The nominations span 15 programme categories, reflecting the best documentary singles and series launched across broadcasters, streamers and online, as well as theatrical releases, alongside the Best Documentary Presenter award.

Platforms:

The BBC tops this year’s awards longlist with 19 nominations across its channels and on iPlayer, followed by Channel 4 with nine, Netflix with eight, Sky Documentaries with five, Disney+ (incorporating National Geographic) with four, Apple TV+ and theguardian.com with two each. The National Film and Television School has three nominations in the best All3Media Best Student Documentary category.

Filmmaking teams:

The Grierson Trust has a strong commitment to improving inclusivity within the documentary and factual television genres and asks entrants include information on the diversity of directors, the wider production team and on-screen themes. This year’s nominations include entries made by 31 female directors (44% of the total) and 39 male directors (some productions are co-directed).

Tom McDonald, Chair of the Grierson Trust said: “This year’s Grierson Award nominations showcase powerful films and series which span so many topics. From forensic investigations into corporate wrongdoing and the power of big tech and AI to change our lives – for better or worse – to documenting the impact of war and civil unrest on ordinary people, and how the natural world is changing around us.

“It’s great to see many films and series directed by female directors make the list; and to see projects from across the UK represented so strongly.”

Nominated in multiple categories:

Four documentaries have been nominated in two categories in the 2026 awards: 2000 Meters to Andriivka (Associated Press/PBS Frontline for Sky Documentaries) in the Broadcast International Best Single Documentary – International and Sky Documentaries Best Cinema Documentary categories; Come See Me in the Good Light (Tripod Media, Amplify Pictures, Treat Media, Something Fierce Productions for Apple TV+) also in the in the Broadcast International Best Single Documentary – International and Sky Documentaries Best Cinema Documentary categories; Grenfell: Uncovered (Rogan Productions for Netflix) in the ENVY Best Single Documentary – Domestic, and Best History Documentary categories; and The Dunblane Tapes (Candour Productions for Channel 4), also in the ENVY Best Single Documentary – Domestic, and Best History Documentary categories.

Three indies have three nominations each. Rogan Productions for Grenfell: Uncovered in the ENVY Best Single Documentary – Domestic, and Best History categories and The Secret of Me in the Best Science and Natural History Documentary; Passion Pictures for Turner: The Secret Sketchbooks in the Bleeding Fingers Music Best Arts and Music Documentary category and See No Evil in the Netflix Best Documentary Series category, and Wild London in the Best Science and Natural History Documentary category; and Curious Films for Confessions of a Brain Surgeon in the Best Science and Natural History Documentary, together with Christine Flack for Caroline Flack: Search for the Truth and Hannah Fry for AI Confidential with Hannah Fry, both in the Best Documentary Presenter category.

Five production companies are nominated in two categories. Candour Productions for The Dunblane Tapes in the ENVY Best Single Documentary – Domestic, and Best History Documentary categories; Zandland for Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel's War in the Televisual Best Current Affairs Documentary and Inside Gooning: The Internet’s Porn Epidemic in the Best Digital Documentary category; Associated Press and Frontline for 2000 Meters to Andriivka in the Broadcast International Best Single Documentary – International and Sky Documentaries Best Cinema Documentary categories; Tripod Media, Amplify Pictures, Treat Media, Something Fierce Productions for Come See Me in the Good Light in the in the Broadcast International Best Single Documentary – International and Sky Documentaries Best Cinema Documentary categories. BBC Current Affairs also received two nominations for Surviving Syria's Prisons and The Zero Line: Inside Russia's War, both in the Televisual Best Current Affairs Documentary category.

Presenters:

The nominations for Best Presenter include established names alongside newcomers and a mother investigating what was behind her daughter’s tragic death:

• Amol Rajan for Amol Rajan Goes to the Ganges
• Christine Flack for Caroline Flack: Search for the Truth
• Hannah Fry for AI Confidential with Hannah Fry
• Hamza Yassin for Hamza's Hidden Wild Isles

Tickets for the Ceremony

The 2026 awards ceremony takes place on 10th November at Roundhouse, the iconic music and arts venue in Camden, London. Tickets are now on sale.