The nominees represent the best single documentaries and factual series across broadcasters, streamers and online as well as theatrical releases, and the winners will be announced at the awards ceremony taking place on 6th November at a new home – Roundhouse – the iconic music and arts venue in Camden, London.

Two production companies received three nominations. Mindhouse titles are nominated across three categories: Lockerbie (Best Documentary Series), Louis Theroux Interviews: Pete Doherty (Best Music Documentary), and The Space Shuttle That Fell to Earth (Best History Documentary). Hungry Bear Media’s Me and the Voice in My Head is nominated for three awards: Best Science Documentary, Best Single Documentary – Domestic, and Best Documentary Presenter.

This year’s awards include a new category, Best Popular Culture Documentary depicting people, events, movements or trends that have had a major impact on popular culture in recent years. The nominations are Arena – Being Kae Tempest, Big Zuu Goes to Mecca, Spacey Unmasked and Milli Vanilli, which is also nominated in the Best Music Documentary category.

The 2024 Best Documentary Presenter nominations recognise the achievements of four diverse newcomers to the genre who each delivered powerful personal journeys and investigations. Joe Tracini for Me and the Voice in My Head, Nadifa Mohamed for Britain's Human Zoos, Rose Ayling-Ellis for Rose Ayling-Ellis: Signs for Change, and Zuhair 'Big Zuu' Hassan for Big Zuu Goes to Mecca.

Several hard-hitting documentaries are nominated in multiple categories, covering the siege of Mariupol in the Best Current Affairs and Best Cinema Documentary categories, and the British forces’ withdrawal from Kabul in Best Documentary Series and Best Current Affairs Documentary categories.

The Best Arts Documentary category features films about Coco Chanel and the first black supermodel, alongside a Korean cinephiles club and the genius of Shakespeare, while the Best Natural History or Environmental Documentary category explores the worlds of tigers, leopards, lowland gorillas and six environmental heroes working to halt the global biodiversity and climate crisis.

The Best History and Science Documentary categories cover contemporary subjects including the rise of the far right and the miners’ strike, mental health and the impact of Alzheimer’s, assisted dying and the evolution of our planet.

The growing popularity and strength in sports documentaries is reflected in biographies of global stars Ronnie O’Sullivan, and Ricky Hatton alongside a portrait of an amateur football team comprising players with Down’s Syndrome and the risks taken by freedivers to break world records.

Best Single Documentary – Domestic includes the story of one of Britain’s best loved Paralympians searching for her birth mother, the impact of a paedophile hoax on a community, the budding career of a writer and director with Down’s Syndrome, as well as living with borderline personality disorder. Best Single Documentary – International includes films following the story of the winner of Turkey’s Got Talent as she recovers from a harrowing attack, a powerful account of the battle experiences of one Ukrainian infantry company filmed by the soldiers themselves, China’s surveillance state, and a father’s battle for justice.

Lorraine Heggessey, Chair of The Grierson Trust said: “This year’s nominees reflect the incredible depth of talent in documentary filmmaking, and especially the new, diverse voices on and off-screen breaking through to tell stories from different perspectives, which really captivate viewers on all channels and platforms. Our jurors were so impressed with the range and quality of the entries which demonstrate once again the creativity that we all must continue to nurture and celebrate during these challenging times for our industry.”

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