2025 Grierson Trust British Documentary Awards Nominees

The Grierson Trust has announced the nominations for the 2025 British Documentary Awards in association with All3Media, spanning 14 program categories.

The BBC leads with 19 nominations across its channels and iPlayer, followed by Channel 4 with eight, Sky Documentaries with five and Netflix with three. Prime Video, ITV, National Geographic and Mubi each garnered two nominations, and Disney+, TNT Sports and RTÉ picked up one each.

“This year’s Grierson Award nominations showcase the incredible talent of documentary filmmakers from a wide range of backgrounds,” said Lorraine Heggessey, chair of The Grierson Trust. “I’m especially pleased to see the growing number of female directors recognized, given how long this has been a challenge for our industry. The rise in documentaries directed by women reflects the efforts of commissioners, production companies and others who are working to redress the balance and support female creative talent. These nominations also highlight the continuing strength and appeal of observational documentaries, at a time when many in the industry have been questioning their role and relevance within an evolving television landscape.”

Five production companies have two nominations each—Acme for The Trouble With Mr Doodle (theatrical release) and Unforgotten: The Bradford City Fire (BBC), Curious Films for Boyzone: No Matter What (Sky Documentaries) and Shoot to Kill: Terror on the Tube (Channel 4), Fee Fie Foe for Apollo 13: Survival (Netflix) and This is Endometriosis, Firecrest Films for Murder Trial: Girl in the River and Young, British and Anti-Abortion (BBC), and Lightbox for The Trouble With Mr Doodle (theatrical release) and What They Found (BBC).

The nominees in the Envy best domestic single documentary are Groomed: A National Scandal (Candour Productions for Channel 4), The Search for Nicola Bulley (Rogan Productions for BBC), Undercover: Exposing the Far Right (Tigerlily Films, Marking Films, HiddenLight and Doc Society for Channel 4) and Witches (Ardimages UK, Montgomery Avenue, Mubi and Garden Studios for Mubi).

The nominees in the Broadcast International best international single documentary are Black Box Diaries (Hanashi Films, Kinetic Creative and Star Sands Production for theatrical release), No Other Land (Antipode Films and Yabayay for Channel 4), The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (Medieoperatørene and VGTV for Netflix) and Sugarcane (Kassie Films, Hedgehog Films, Impact Partners and Fit Via Vi for National Geographic).

In the best current affairs documentary category, sponsored by Televisual, nominations went to Dead Calm: Killing in the Med? (BBC Current Affairs for BBC), Life and Death in Gaza (BBC Eye and BBC Storyville for BBC), Maternity: Broken Trust (Pulse Films for ITV1) and Small Town, Big Riot episode two (Forest for BBC).

Best arts and music documentary contenders are In My Own Words: Alison Lapper (Chalk Productions for BBC), Music by John Williams (Lucasfilm, Ambling Documentaries and Imagine Documentaries for Disney+), The Trouble with Mr Doodle (Acme and Lightbox for theatrical release) and Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other (Manon et Jacob, Final Cut For Real, Fremantle and Louverture Films for theatrical release).

Up for the crime and justice category are Bibaa & Nicole: Murder in the Park episode one (Trust Vision Productions for Sky Documentaries), Shoot to Kill: Terror on the Tube episode one (Curious Films for Channel 4), The Wrong Man: 17 Years Behind Bars (Two Step Films for BBC) and Zurawski v Texas (HiddenLight Productions, Story Force and Out of Nowhere for Eventive-Together Films).

Best sports documentary nominees are Four Kings—Rise of the Kings (Workerbee for Prime Video), Sven (Whisper and Up&Away Film Entertainment for Prime Video), Unbreakable: England 2003 (TNT Sports and Buzz 16 for TNT Sports) and Unforgotten: The Bradford City Fire (Acme for BBC).

History documentaries up for a prize are Atomic People (Minnow Films for BBC), Children of the Cult (DM Productions for ITV1), What They Found (Lightbox, Neal St, Imperial War Museums and All3Media International for BBC) and The Zelensky Story episode one (72 Films and Open University for BBC).

In the science and natural history category, nominees are Apollo 13: Survival (Insight TWI Films Presents and Fee Fie Foe for Netflix), Britain’s Nuclear Bomb Scandal: Our Story (Hardcash Productions for BBC), Nocturnes (Metamorphosis Film Junction and Sandbox Films for theatrical release) and Pangolin: Kulu’s Journey (Anonymous Content, Dog Star Films and Water Creature Film for Netflix).

Additional categories’ nominees can be found on The Grierson Trust’s website. The awards ceremony will take place on November 18 at Roundhouse in Camden, London.