Hilltop Hospital didn’t have to mend any broken hearts at the Arthur and Bob the Builder camps over the weekend as The 2003 British Children’s Film and Television Award winners were announced on Sunday, Nov. 30.
The Bob the Builder special A Christmas to Remember took top honors in the Animation category. Produced by HOT Animation for HIT Ent., the BBC show beat out CiTV’s Albie from Cosgrove Hall Films and Granada Int’l.; CiTV’s Bounty Hamster from Silver Fox Films and Peafur Prods.; and CiTV’s Pongwiffy from Telemagination.
Siriol Prods.’ stop-motion series Hilltop Hospital rose above the preschool animation competition. The CiTV show bested BBC2’s Boo! from Tell-Tale Prods., CiTV’s Tiny Planets from Pepper’s Ghost Prods. and Yoko! Jakamoko! Toto! from Collingwood O’Hare Ent. and HIT Ent.
Yoko! Jakamoko! Toto! scribe Tony Collingwood lost the Writing award to Alex Williams for the live-action CiTV series Sir Gadabout: The Worst Knight in the Land from Alibi Prods.
Arthur, which airs on BBC2 in the U.K., scored a win in the International category for WGBH Educational Foundation and Cinar Prods. The animated series won over live-action competitors 8 Simple rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter (Disney Channel U.K.) from Disney/Touchtone Television, Don’t Blame the Koalas (Five) from Southern Star and That’s So Raven from Disney Channel U.S. and Brookwell-McNamara.
In the Feature Film category, animated and EFX-driven fare gave way to the pseudo-mystical coming-of-age story Whale Rider from South Pacific Pictures, Apollo Media, Pandora Film and Icon Film Distribution. The indie from New Zealand triumphed over such heavy hitters as The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers from New Line and Entertainment film Distributors; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets from Heyday Films, 1492 Pictures and Warner Bros.; and The Wild Thornberrys from Nickelodeon Movies, Paramount Pictures, Klasky Csupo and United International Pictures U.K.
