Brit shows dominate Rose D'Or awards

British programmes including Skins, The IT Crowd and Kombat Opera Presents ... dominated the annual Rose D'Or entertainment awards in Switzerland last night, winning five of the eight coveted Golden Roses.

E4's teen drama Skins, made by Company Pictures and Stormdog Films, won the Golden Rose for best drama, with BBC1's second series of The Street, made by Granada Productions, given a special mention. The BBC's Kombat Opera Presents ..., made by Avalon Television, won the Golden Rose for comedy as well as being named best programme of 2008. Channel 4's Strictly Bolshoi, made by Ballet Boyz Productions, scooped the Golden Rose for arts documentary; while The IT Crowd, made by Talkback Thames, won the sitcom Golden Rose.

The entertainment Golden Rose went to BBC2's Hider in the House, made by Dutch production company Eyeworks. There was also British involvement in the gameshow Golden Rose, with the UK-based distributor Sony Pictures Television International's American format Power of 10 taking the gong.

The other two Golden Rose awards for performing arts and reality went to Swiss and Dutch broadcasters respectively. Comedian Peter Serafinowicz was also named best entertainer for his self-titled BBC1 show. The honorary Rose went to NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios co-chairman Ben Silverman. Last night's awards, which were announced at the 48th Rose D'Or festival in Lucerne, were chosen from 402 programmes entered from 34 countries.