The WRIXAS: Winter '14 ceremony has been confirmed to take place in February 2014. The eligility window closed on Friday 31st January 2014, however a flexibility window for the first week of February remained open until 23.59 on Friday 7th February 2014.
The ceremony took place on Friday 21st February 2014, it was an exciting night for the forum. The ceremony included classic projects such as City Girls, Cross My Heart Hope to Die, High Hopes, These Days and Uncertain Nights as well as exciting newcomers Looking Forward and FF The Bill. The ceremony also included one off drama Words of Comfort and the short lived soap City Lights.
Noah's role in the siege is revealed to Megan (High Hopes)
Naomi breaks down and is sectioned (High Hopes)
Jamie loses his temper with Adam (Looking Forward)
Jamie and Liam address their mutual feelings (Looking Forward)
Post-Natally depressed Liam breaks down in Doyle's (These Days)
Carrie accidentally discovers she is Steph's daughter (These Days)
Oscar dies (Uncertain Nights)
Oscar's closing monologue (Uncertain Nights)
Noah's role in the siege is revealed to Megan (High Hopes)
Oscar dies (Uncertain Nights)
Oscar's closing monologue (Uncertain Nights)
Best Soap Plot
Evan/Jason Domestic Violence (City Lights)
Moira/Robbie's Affair (City Lights)
Chloe's Rape (High Hopes)
Patrick's Death (High Hopes)
Jamie's sexuality struggle (Looking Forward)
Carrie/Steph Maternity (These Days)
Ricki comes between Steven and Hannah (These Days)
Oscar's Cancer (Uncertain Nights)
Leah/Joel/Ash - Who's the Daddy? (Uncertain Nights)
Patrick's Death (High Hopes)
Oscar's Cancer (Uncertain Nights)
Best Soap Episode
Episode 23: Scripted (City Lights)
Episode 14 (City Lights)
2x13 'He lies as often as he breaths' Scripted (High Hopes)
2x24 'You two have murdered enough Christmas classics as it is sweetheart' (High Hopes)
Episode 2 (Looking Forward)
Episode 3 (Looking Forward)
Episode 152: Sister Sister (These Days)
Episode 155: What A Carrie On! (These Days)
Episode 248: Scripted (Uncertain Nights)
Episode 270: Final Episode (Uncertain Nights)
Best New Soap
City Lights
Looking Forward
Best Soap
City Lights
High Hopes
Looking Forward
These Days
Uncertain Nights
These Days
Uncertain Nights
Winners[]
Award
Winner (s)
Best Cameo, Newcomer or Returnee
Traditionally one of TD's strongest categories, Noxy has never NOT won this category (Cass Franklin won for Uncertain Nights a year ago, all the other wins were for These Days) - until today! And it's whippersnapper Looking Forward taking its first ever WRIXA. Leanne Bedford is declared 'Best Newcomer' in the BEST CAMEO, NEWCOMER OR RETURNEE sub-category, earning 50% of the second ballot.
Runner Up: Joan Clark (Uncertain Nights)
Best Exit
Forum members had a bit more trouble deciding on 'Best Exit' though - hence it's a tie! This is the first of several ties in this ceremony. The harrowing death of John Roberts in City Girls gives the project its 15th WRIXA to date and 2nd of the night, and it is also the first time CG has ever won in this sub-category. Meanwhile, the equally tragic death of UN's 'original original character', Oscar Clark, gives Uncertain Nights its 15th WRIXA in all, as well as its first award for a year. Both exits earned 38% of votes each, from the second ballot.
Runner Up: Patrick Hale (High Hopes)
Best Family/Couple
And here is our first outright winner of the night! Yes, despite competing with 11 rival nominations, City Girls' legendary couple 'Mizzie' (Max & Izzie) won on the first ballot with a definitive 63% of the vote. It's perhaps not surprising to see them win this award - Izzie won Best Drama Female at the 4th WRIXAS, and Max won Best Drama Male at the last WRIXAS - so together they've got it made!
Runners Up: James Warren & Anita Johnson (These Days) and Sanchia & Oscar Clark (Uncertain Nights)
Best Christmas Episode
And it's a hat trick for High Hopes! Hannah & Jaay win 'Best Christmas Episode' (the second of two episodes shown on Christmas Day 2013) with 38% of second ballot votes.
Runners Up: City Girls 4.11 and High Hopes 2x23
Best New Year's Episode
And Hannah's bulldozing luck continues as the debut scripted installment of City Girls - entitled 'The Trick Is To Keep Breathing' - clocked up a whopping 75% on the first ballot to claim victory as 'Best New Year Episode.'
Runner Up: High Hopes 2x26
Best Scripted Episode
And it's a 31st WRIXA for forum stalwart 'These Days'! Episode 152, entitled 'Sister Sister', was a two-hander between estranged half-sister Ricki Wells and Vanessa Pritchard - and for 50% of voters, it was the 'Best Scripted Episode', which is a new WRIXAS category. It is TD's second scripted episode to date; the first won a WRIXA for 'Best Soap Episode' last summer.
Can I just say a huge thank you to those who voted for 'Sister Sister.' If anything I enjoyed writing it even more than TD's first scripted episode, so it really is an honour to have that enjoyment recognised by the forum. That CG episode though is a very worthy runner-up - it was absolutely sublime and that's why I voted for it. So hats off to you too, Hannah!
Runner Up: 4.13 (City Girls)
Best Drama Male
And it's congratulations to Lem! No stranger to drama awards, Lem picks up a WRIXA for her one-off drama 'Words Of Comfort' - published on 3 October 2013 - as its central character, terminal cancer sufferer Harry Winters, is named 'Best Drama Male' by 50% of voters.
Runner Up: Max Warren (City Girls)
Best Drama Female
Here's CG's Izzie again, as Izzie won 50% of votes to be declared 'Best Drama Female' - an improvement on her first win in this category; 38% in Winter 2012/13! In turn, Izzie Roberts becomes the first character ever to win 'Best Drama Female' more than once.
Runner Up: DS Lauren Saunders (CMHHTD)
Best Drama Scene
'John Roberts Dies With Izzie By His Side' wins Best Drama Scene with a decisive 75% of the vote. This is the second consecutive time CG has won the Best Drama Scene award, winning last Summer for 'Holly Jilts Tom At The Altar'.
Runner Up: Harry & WonderlandAlice's Online Chat (Words of Comfort)
Best Drama Plot
'Harry's Cancer Battle' gives Words Of Comfort its 2nd WRIXA tonight, winning 63% of the vote to scoop the gong for 'Best Drama Plot.'
Runner Up: The Stuart Heaton Murder Investigation (CMHHTD)
Best Drama Episode
Elsewhere, Hannah does it yet again for City Girls, as the scripted episode 'The Trick Is To Keep Breathing' wins 'Best Drama Episode' with a 63% vote share. This is the 2nd consecutive time CG has won this award, and the 2nd of three in all.
Runner Up: FF The Bill - Episode Five
Best New Drama
Two exceptionally high-quality new dramas in this category, but ultimately it was allthingsuk's 'Fan:Fic The Bill' that clinched it, with 63% of voters proclaiming it 'Best New Drama'.
Runner Up: Words of Comfort
Best Drama
'City Girls' put in an epic performance at the Summer '13 WRIXAS - and frankly it's a repeat performance tonight! For the third time - and for the second time in a row! - 'City Girls' is named 'Best Drama' by the majority of the forum, scoring 50% of the votes. This means CG is now the proud owner of 7 WRIXAS tonight (matching its own record set last winter), and an incredible 20 WRIXAS in all. Massive congrats, Hannah!
Runners Up: Cross My Heart, Hope to Die and FF The Bill
Best Soap Male
Over in Soaps, Oscar Clark has been nominated several times for 'Best Soap Male', but has never won - until today! If only he knew dying was the way to make it happen! This is also the first and last time UN has won in this sub-category, as well as another first - Oscar won with 100% of possible votes, the first time this has ever happened!
Best Soap Female
Meanwhile, hot on the heels of late husband Oscar's win for Best Soap Male, Sanchia Clark also wins the equivalent 'Best Soap Female' award! And like Oscar, Sanchia won 100% of possible votes. However unlike Oscar, Sanchia has won this accolade once before, in Winter 2012. That was the third of three consecutive occasions when UN won this award - Leah Richardson did in Spring 2012 and then Jasmine Powell flew the flag in Summer 2012.
Best Soap Scene
Over in Soaps, it's another tie-breaker as 'Noah Donovan's Role In The Siege Revealed To Wife Megan' from High Hopes, and 'Oscar's Closing Monologue' from Uncertain Nights, each earned 38% of the vote to win the WRIXA for 'Best Soap Scene.' This gives HH its 3rd WRIXA and its 1st of the night, whilst UN achieves its 18th WRIXA in all, and 4th of the night. For this one I'd like to take my hat off to AppleCobbler! He wrote Oscar's closing monologue and I must admit, it gave ME goosebumps when I read it! Nice one, mate!
Runner Up: Oscar Dies (Uncertain Nights)
Best Soap Plot
But it's another tie-breaker over in Soaps, though it's the final one of the night! Voters were torn with 'Best Soap Plot' between 'Patrick Hale's Death & Aftermath' for High Hopes, and 'Oscar's Cancer' for Uncertain Nights. So in the end, each picked up 38% of votes to share this award. This now gives HH its 4th WRIXA and its 2nd of the night, whilst UN scores its 19th gong of the evening, and a record-matching 5th of the night. For UN, can I just say we have been overwhelmed by the positive response to the cancer plot for Oscar. The important thing for me, Ross and AC was that the story was primarily about the impact of the cancer, rather than the cancer itself, so it was really character-driven, and we are so pleased that came across to you guys.
Best Soap Episode
Moving on to the 'Best Soap Episode' WRIXA now, and it's a gamechanger for Uncertain Nights! The first and last time it's ever won this award, Episode 270: The Final Episode earns UN its 20th WRIXA in total
Runner Up: Looking Forward - Episode 2
Best New Soap
Over in Soaps, and despite only the first three episodes being eligible, 'Looking Forward' quickly made a big impression with voters. Hence it is tonight declared 'Best New Soap'. Interestingly, this is the third (and final) time tonight a category has won 100% of votes, even though it's never happened before this ceremony
Best Soap
Meanwhile, the final Soap award of the night was a nailbiter which went right down to the wire, between two forum behemoths who have once shared this award before. However in the end, 'Uncertain Nights' (38%) gave way to 'These Days' (50%), which wins the WRIXA for Best Soap for an extraordinary seventh consecutive time.
Runner Up: Uncertain Nights
Full Story & Stats[]
Matching it's first ever record, City Girls once again picked up an impressive seven awards, while Uncertain Nights walked away with six, a fitting tribute to the soap which concluded this year. High Hopes scored a hat trick with three awards, while Looking Forward, These Days and Words of Comfort all picked up two and brand new drama FF The Bill won one award.
