Firecracker Films have again received the award for 'Best Lockdown Programme – Popular Factual' with Emma Willis: Delivering Babies in 2020, at the Broadcast Digital Awards.
The Broadcast judges were united in agreement that Emma Willis: Delivering Babies was a deserving winner. One went as far as saying that in years to come, it would be looked back on as one of the shows that explained how we coped and managed during the Covid-19 crisis. Another added that it was a huge achievement for the production team to gain access to both contributors and maternity wards during a global pandemic.
Numerous judges praised Willis’ presenting style, with one noting that her “warmth shone through even though she was remote”, adding: “She didn’t feel removed at all and was thoroughly engaging and empathetic right from the initial meetings on Zoom to the final face to face.”
With hospital access no longer an option, parents-to-be from all over the UK worked closely with the producers to film their own pregnancies and births on mobile phones and handheld cameras, to give viewers a first-person insight into their experiences. The series averaged 148,000 over its four TXs, tripling its slot average, with total consumption boosted to 347,000 to peak at 418,000 for the first episode.
One judge joked that this series featured a “great cast and fantastic production values”.
Firecracker is responsible for some of the highest rating and most talked about factual television programmes of the last decade. With offices in Glasgow and London, the indie has been working hard over the past year to increase its digital presence and has several series' commissioned by UKTV, BBC Scotland and E4, and has seen the company work with a wide range of broadcasters both in the UK and the US, including the BBC, Channel 4, W, ABC, Discovery, TLC and National Geographic. with top female talent, such as Emma Willis and Stacey Dooley, who helm the two highest-rated programmes on UKTV-owned W. From the BAFTA-nominated international smash hit Big Fat Gypsy Weddings, to the visually arresting Daredevils series, Firecracker has produced some of the most ground-breaking, popular factual programmes on television today.
Whatever the platform, Firecracker prides itself on telling authentic human stories and offering new and often never-before-seen perspectives, coupled with its trademark bold and stylish approach to film making, to create talked about content that is loved by audiences around the globe.
Other Firecracker Films credits include Born in the Wrong Body, Daredevils, Repo Man, Sex Testers, Baby Ballroom and Dr Christian Will See You Now and single documentaries such as Susan Boyle: Unlikely Superstar, Secrets of the Living Dolls, The Man With The Ten Stone Testicles, The Brit Who Tried To Kill Trump and Jamie: Drag Queen At Sixteen – the documentary which inspired the hit West End musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.