BAFTA nominations for two BBC/OU programmes

Two BBC and Open University co-productions have earned BAFTA nominations in the current affairs and factual series categories.

And on Sunday, 8 May, academics from the Faculties of Business and Law and Arts and Social Sciences, who acted as consultants for the programmes, find out if they’ve won.

The BBC billing for Trump takes on the world described Trump’s term of office as “one of the most shocking presidencies in history”. In the programme top advisers and the leaders who clashed with this most unorthodox of US premiers as he conducted his foreign affairs, were able to tell their own story.

OU academic consultants on the programme were Dr Filippo Boni and Dr Precious N Chatterje-Doody both Lecturers in Politics and International Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. They were supported by media fellow Alison Penn and Broadcasts and Partnerships project managers Jo Weeks and Matt Ray.

The second co-production up for a famous glittering trophy in the factual series category is The Detectives: fighting organised crime. Its two episodes were filmed over two years and followed police officers from the Greater Manchester Police as they tackled bringing members of organised crime gangs to justice.

It depicted the raw and terrifying glimpse into organised crime in Manchester, the violence that gangs are prepared to carry out, and how the police worked to find the culprits.

The consulting academics for The Detectives: fighting organised crime were Hugh McFaul, Head of the Law School, Francine Ryan, Senior Lecturer in Law and Director of the Open Justice Centre, and Dr Zoe Walkington, Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology and Counselling.

Caroline Ogilvie, who commissioned both series for the University, said:

It’s absolutely brilliant that two OU/BBC co-productions have received BAFTA nominations this year and it is great that OU academics who consulted on them are recognised in this way.

Caroline Ogilvie
Head of Broadcasts and Partnerships