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Robert Peston nominated for ‘best performer’ award

By Paul McNally

Robert Peston has been shortlisted in the “best performer” category in this year’s Broadcasting Press Guild awards for his role in reporting the global economic crisis.

The BBC business editor faces competition for the prize of “best peformer in a non-acting role” from fellow journalist John Sergeant – who is shortlisted for his dancing rather than his reporting – plus Stephen Fry and X-Factor judge Cheryl Cole.

Peston has gained celebrity status over the past year and a half after he broke a series of finance stories including the news that troubled bank Northern Rock had asked the Government for emergency help.

At a recent treasury select committee hearing, Newcastle Central Labour MP Jim Cousins told Peston: “You’re now a market force in your own right.”

The Broadcasting Press Guild awards are voted by a group of more than 100 journalists who specialise in writing about television, radio and the media in general.

They include media correspondents, reviewers and feature writers from newspapers, broadcasters and the trade press, including Press Gazette.

The BBC dominates the documentary and factual categories, with nominations for Panorama’s investigation into pedigree dog-breeding, Michael Portillo’s ‘Death of a Schoolfriend’ and Boris Johnson’s series on Rome.

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Four BBC Radio 4 presenters – Evan Davis, Eddie Mair, Kirsty Young and Ed Stourton – are nominated for radio broadcaster of the year alongside Radio 5 Live’s Colin Murray.

Radio 4’s Front Row and In Our Time are among the programmes shortlisted in the radio programme of the year category.

The awards are sponsored by CNN parent company Turner Broadcasting and the winners will be announced at a lunch at the Theatre Royal in London on 27 March.

Single documentary
Arena: The Agony and Ecstasy of Phil Spector (BBC Two)
Michael Portillo: Death of a School Friend (BBC Two)
My Street (C4)
Pedigree Dogs Exposed (BBC One)

Documentary series
Amazon with Bruce Parry (BBC Two)
The American Future: A History by Simon Schama (BBC Two)
Boris Johnson’s After Rome: Holy War and Conquest (BBC Two)
The Genius of Charles Darwin (C4)
Ross Kemp in Afghanistan (Sky 1)

Single drama
The Curse of Steptoe (BBC Four)
Einstein & Eddington (BBC Two)
Hughie Green, Most Sincerely (BBC Four)
Margaret Thatcher: the Long Walk to Finchley (BBC Four)
The No1 Ladies Detective Agency (BBC One)

Drama series
Criminal Justice (BBC One)
The Devil’s Whore (C4)
Little Dorrit (BBC One)
Wallander (BBC One)

Comedy/entertainment
Gavin and Stacey (BBC One)
Harry Hill’s TV Burp (ITV1)
Outnumbered (BBC One)
Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death (BBC One)

Factual entertainment
The Apprentice (BBC One)
The Choir: Boys Don’t Sing (BBC Two)
Dragons’ Den (BBC Two)
Jamie’s Ministry of Food (C4)

Multichannel
Dead Set (E4)
Hughie Green, Most Sincerely (BBC Four)
Margaret Thatcher: the Long Walk to Finchley (BBC Four)
Ross Kemp in Afghanistan (Sky 1)

Best actor
Kenneth Branagh for Wallander (BBC One)
David Tennant for Doctor Who (BBC One) and Einstein & Eddington (BBC Two)
Ben Whishaw for Criminal Justice (BBC One)

Best actress
Gemma Arterton for Tess (BBC One)
Ruth Jones for Gavin & Stacey, Little Dorrit, & Tess (all BBC One)
Andrea Riseborough for Margaret Thatcher: the Long Walk to Finchley (BBC Four) & The Devil’s Whore (C4)
Julie Walters for Filth: the Mary Whitehouse Story (BBC Four)

Best performer in a non-acting role
Cheryl Cole for The X Factor (ITV1)
Stephen Fry for Stephen Fry in America (BBC One) and QI (BBC Two)
Robert Peston for BBC News
John Sergeant for Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One)

Writer’s award
Andrew Davies for Little Dorrit and Sense & Sensibility (BBC One), Affinity (ITV1)
Peter Flannery for The Devil’s Whore (C4)
Andy Hamilton & Guy Jenkin for Outnumbered (BBC One)
Peter Moffat for Criminal Justice (BBC One) and Einstein & Eddington (BBC Two)

Radio broadcaster
Evan Davis (BBC Radio 4)
Eddie Mair (BBC Radio 4)
Colin Murray (BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 5 Live)
Ed Stourton (BBC Radio 4)
Kirsty Young (BBC Radio 4)

Radio programme
Adam and Joe (BBC 6Music)
Front Row (BBC Radio 4)
In Our Time (BBC Radio 4)
Late Junction (BBC Radio 3)
Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie (BBC Radio 2)

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