UTV's 'Insight' scoops top national TV award

The makers of UTV’s 'Insight' programme have been awarded the prestigious Royal Television Society (RTS) National and Regional Current Affairs Award for an investigation into the deaths of four children at a local hospital.

'Insight: When Hospitals Kill' was broadcast last October and was the result of an eight month long investigation by the Insight team into the deaths of four local children in hospital, which directly led to the decision by Health Minister Angela Smith to set up an ‘Inquiry Into Hyponatraemia-Related Deaths’.

At a ceremony in London, the RTS Jury said the Insight programme had been chosen because it was “a careful, thorough and coherent investigation into an often complicated and sensitive subject matter".

"The programme making team sustained interest throughout with imaginative production techniques – a difficult task with a story such as this which was buried in paperwork. The winning programme not only made an impact – it literally made a difference," it added.

Alan Bremner, Director of Television at UTV, said the award recognised the "courageous campaign" fought by the parents of the four children who died and who helped make Northern Ireland’s health service "accountable".

UTV’s Insight beat off stiff competition from other programmes shortlisted in the National and Regional Current Affairs Award category - BBC Northern Ireland’s Spotlight ‘Superdollars’ and BBC One Scotland’s Frontline ‘Security Wars’.

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