Geektown Awards – Best New & Returning Drama
A very Happy New Year to everyone! As Geektown awakens from its Christmas slumber, we kick things off, as we do every year, with the results of The Geektown Awards! 2022 saw the most entries we’ve ever had in the eleven years we’ve been running the awards, so I wanted to say a huge thank you to the thousands of people that voted! Also a massive congratulations to Paul who won the enormous main prize, and Sharon who won the runner-up mystery box. Both have been contacted.
With the prize winners announced, we move on to the awards themselves. We’ll be splitting the announcements over two days, so we begin part one with the ‘Best New and Best Returning Drama’ categories. A reminder – everything in the awards is voted for by visitors to this website, not picked by us.
Best New Drama
Nominees: Around the World in 80 Days, Season 1 – BBC One, Heartstopper, Season 1 – Netflix, Reacher, Season 1 – Prime Video, SAS: Rogue Heroes, Season 1 – BBC One, Severance, Season 1 – Apple TV+, Shining Girls, Season 1 – Apple TV+, Slow Horses, Season 1 – Apple TV+, Suspicion, Season 1 – Apple TV+, The Devil’s Hour – Prime Video, The Tourist, Season 1 – BBC One, Trigger Point, Season 1 – ITV, Vikings: Valhalla, Season 1 – Netflix, Roar, Season 1 – Apple TV+
Bronze: Vikings: Valhalla, Season 1 – Netflix
Silver: Around the World in 80 Days, Season 1 – BBC One
Winner: SAS: Rogue Heroes, Season 1 – BBC One
It seems the extremely talented Steven Knight CBE just can’t stop churning out hits for the BBC! With his smash hit series ‘Peaky Blinders’ wrapping up, he turned to another part of history for his latest smash – ‘SAS: Rogue Heroes‘.
Based on Ben Macintyre’s best-selling book of the same name, season one followed David Stirling (Connor Swindells), Jock Lewes (Alfie Allen) and Paddy Mayne (Jack O’Connell) in a dramatised account of how the SAS was formed in the darkest days of World War Two.
Outside of our awards, the drama has been been a huge hit with audiences and critics alike for the BBC, with the first episode alone attracting 9.4 million viewers (28-day all screens figure). It has, of course, been renewed for Season 2.
Best Returning Drama
Nominees: Better Call Saul, Season 6 – Netflix, Cobra Kai, Season 5 – Netflix, Gangs Of London, Season 2 – Sky Atlantic, Manifest, Season 4 – Netflix, Peaky Blinders, Season 6 – BBC One, The Flight Attendant, Season 2 – Sky Max, The Handmaid’s Tale, Season 5 – Channel 4, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Season 4 – Prime Video, Yellowstone, Season 5 – Paramount+, White Lotus, Season 2 – Sky Atlantic, Servant, Season 3 – Apple TV+
Bronze: Better Call Saul, Season 6 – Netflix
Silver: The Handmaid’s Tale, Season 5 – Channel 4/Prime Video
Winner: Peaky Blinders, Season 6 – BBC One
I’m beginning to wonder if we should rename the drama categories “The Steven Knight Drama Award”… ‘Peaky Blinders‘ faced some tough competition this year, with the brilliant ‘Better Call Saul’ also coming to an end, and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ producing a stunning penultimate season. However, you should know better than to pick a fight with the Shelby family who confidently took the top spot for their sixth and final season.
Whilst it is the end of the road for ‘Peaky Blinders’ as a series, there is a film coming, set during the Second World War, which is due to begin production in May 2023. And if you’re worried about not having a Steven Knight drama series to vote for in the next awards, fear not… He’s also working on ‘This Town’, a Ska/Two Tone drama for the BBC, and is reteaming with Stephen Graham on boxing drama ‘A Thousand Blows’ for Disney+.
