Adolescence co-creator Jack Thorne has hit out at the "savagery" of the government's cuts to its Access to Work support scheme for disabled people.
Accepting his Broadcasting Press Guild award for best writer in recognition of the drama, plus fellow Netflix series Toxic Town and ITV's The Hack, Thorne called on the industry and the media to fight for the cuts to be reversed.
He highlighted the plight of his co-writer on The Hack, Annalise D'Innella.
"She's partially sighted and has had her Access to Work cut by 85% by the savagery of this government," he said. "They're doing this to disabled people all over the country and they're doing this to our profession."
Thorne said the cuts have also affected Kyla Harris, co-creator and star of BBC2's We Might Regret This; Sister Pictures executive producer Bryony Arnold, who is also co-director of Deaf & Disabled People in TV; and theatre director Jenny Sealey. who was one of the artistic directors of the 2012 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony.
The Access to Work Collective estimated last year that individuals are facing 60-80% cuts and one in three applications are rejected, a 22% rise year-on-year.
A recent National Audit Office report revealed that the average time taken to process applications had quadrupled to 109 days, affecting people’s job security and employers’ cashflow.
"I just wanted to ask people in this room to elevate whats going on, to help us fight this," Thorne said.
"The TV Access Project (TAP) is the best thing i've ever been part of. What we've tried to do in the last four years is to try to change the landscape for disabled people in this country and disabled people in this industry and we are going to fail unless the Access to Work cuts are reversed."
BPG Awards
Adolescence took home five awards at the ceremony, including best single drama or mini-series.
Owen Cooper scooped the breakthrough talent award for this and his turn in BBC1 comedy Film Night, while his Adolescence co-stars Stephen Graham and Erin Doherty won acting awards that also recognised both of their performances in Disney+ drama series A Thousand Blows.
Twofour’s return to Educating Yorkshire was named best documentary series at the ceremony - repeating the success of its first series in the same category in 2014.
It beat four BBC titles to the prize: BBC2’s Once Upon a Time in Space and Simon Schama’s Story of Us, BBC1’s The Bombing of Pan Am 103 and iPlayer-only series Shifty.
Meanwhile, Louix Theroux took home the prize for best single documentary or mini-series for his BBC2 single The Settlers, made through his indie Mindhouse Productions.
He edged out three fellow BBC titles Empire with David Olusoga, Girlbands Forever and Live Aid at 40: When Rock ‘n’ Roll Took on the World, and Netflix’s Grenfell: Uncovered.
Studio Lambert’s Celebrity Traitors received the entertainment award, following previous wins for the civilian version’s first two series.
Special awards went to Happy Valley and Riot Women creator Sally Wainwright, broadcasting veteran Melvyn Bragg, and TV Mindset founder Adeel Amini.
Now in their 52nd year, the BPG Awards are voted for by journalists covering TV, streaming, radio, podcasts and the media.
BPG Award winners in full:BEST SINGLE DRAMA OR MINI-SERIES Adolescence (Warp Films/Plan B, Netflix)
BEST DRAMA SERIES Blue Lights (Two Cities Television/Gallagher Films, BBC1)
BEST SINGLE DOCUMENTARY OR MINI-SERIES Louis Theroux: The Settlers (Mindhouse, BBC2)
BEST DOCUMENTARY SERIES Educating Yorkshire (2025) (Twofour, Channel 4)
BEST COMEDY Amandaland (Merman, BBC1)
BEST ENTERTAINMENT The Celebrity Traitors (Studio Lambert, BBC1)
BEST ACRESS Erin Doherty (Adolescence, A Thousand Blows)
BEST ACTOR Stephen Graham (Adolescence, A Thousand Blows)
BEST WRITER Jack Thorne (Adolescence, Toxic Town, The Hack)
BPG BREAKTHROUGH TALENT AWARD Owen Cooper (Adolescence, Film Club)
AUDIO PROGRAMME OF THE YEAR What Happened to Counter-Culture? (Radio 4)
AUDIO PRESENTER OF THE YEAR Sara Cox (Radio 2)
PODCAST OF THE YEAR Ill-Advised by Bill Nighy (Eyepod Studios)
HARVEY LEE OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO BROADCASTING Sally Wainwright
BPG INNOVATION AWARD WSQK The Squack - Global for Netflix
BPG EMERGING CREATOR AWARD Specs Gonzalez
BPG MEMBERS SPECIAL AWARD Melvyn Bragg
BPG MEMBERS SPECIAL AWARD Adeel Amini
