Lucy Prebble, Russell T Davies And Lucy Kirkwood Up For WGGB Awards; BBC Greenlights Farming And Autism Shows; ‘Superworm’ Trailer; UKTV Reveals WriterSlam Finalists – Global Briefs

Prebble, Davies And Kirkwood Up For WGGB Awards

Lucy Prebble’s I Hate Suzie, Russell T Davies’ It’s A Sin and Lucy Kirkwood’s Adult Material will battle it out for the Best Long Form TV Drama gong in February’s Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) Awards, which is honoring two years’ worth of shows due to last year’s Covid-induced cancellation. Other prominent nominees include Emerald Fennell for Promising Young Woman, up against Remi Weekes’ His House and Theresa Ikoko/Claire Wilson’s Rocks for Best Screenplay, while female creators are recognized in the Best TV Situation Comedy category as Mae Martin, Sarah Kendall and Aisling Bea are all nominated. The awards will take place on 14 February in Central London. “What a fitting day to celebrate the cream of British writers – who have kept us entertained on page, stage, screen and across the airwaves, through such dark times,” said WGGB President Sandi Toksvig.

BBC Greenlights Farming And Autism Shows; Studios Rejigs Docs Unit

The BBC has commissioned shows on autism and farming from the BBC Studios Documentary Unit as the latter rejigs its structure under new boss Alan Holland, bringing in three execs. Chris Packham’s Inside The Autistic Mind (working title) and Kelvin’s Big Farming Adventure will both air next year. The former will take a deep dive into the minds of autistic people at key points in their lives and the latter will follow the Coronation Street star and Strictly Come Dancing contestant as he leaves the city to start a new life in the country as the head of a farming business. Both come from the BBC Studios Documentary Unit, which has hired Amanda Lyon, Anna Sadowy and Sam Emmery as Exec Producers along with Ben Mitchell as Creative Director of Popular Factual. Mitchell will head up one of three sub-genres along with Documentary & Crime, helmed by Kirsty Cunningham, and Specialist Factual, overseen by Abigail Priddle. Holland took over from Amy Flanagan earlier this year.

BBC Unveils ‘Superworm’ Trailer With Olivia Colman and Matt Smith

The BBC has unveiled the trailer for Superworm, its latest Julia Donaldson adaptation starring Olivia Colman and Matt Smith. The Crown pair will play the Narrator and lead character respectively, with Rob Brydon and Patricia Allison also voicing characters. The BBC airs a different Donaldson adaptation each year around Christmas, produced by Magic Light Pictures.

UKTV Reveals WriterSlam Finalists

UKTV has unveiled the four finalists of its WriterSlam competition to promote diverse and emerging talent. Dead Canny, written by Anna Costello, Holier Than Thou, written by Misha Adesanya, Perfect (Working title) from Laurence Clark and The Other Half by Kate Reid and Zak Ghazi-Torbati, are the final four shows that have been greenlit as 30-minute episodes. The WriterSlam program is helmed by TriForce Creative Network and has been used by a range of networks. Its first ever winner was Blood writer Sophie Petzal.