Four Belgian TV programs nominated for a prestigious award

From ‘Destination

The ‘Golden Rose’ will be awarded in London at the end of this month. These are the most important prizes in the television world. This year there are four Belgian TV formats that have a chance to win a ribbon. They were selected from more than 700 entries from all over the world.

In the category ‘Factual entertainment and reality’ Straight to jail nominated. In that program, which was broadcast on Play4, rulers such as former justice minister Vincent van Quickenborne (Open VLD) were locked up in the new prison in Haren, together with ex-detainees. Our reviewer at the time wasn’t too impressed with the program. ‘The concept of Straight to jail is simple and now classic: open a can of BVs, put them together in an extreme setting and something surprising will always emerge,” he said at the time. However, it was far from surprising: according to him, the program was quite boring. It received two stars out of five. Straight to jail competes against five other formats from the UK, US and Germany.

VTM also has a chance to win a prize, because it received a nomination in the ‘Competition reality’ category with Destination. That adventurous program was VTM’s answer to The mole from Play4. In it, candidates drive through Europe on a bus, have to carry out tests and guess where they are based on tips. Our reviewer awarded the program three stars out of five after the pilot episode.

Truthful sex scenes

It received a nomination in the ‘Multiplatform series’ category Season of sex, a series on VRT Max. In a number of short episodes, this ‘witty series’, said our reviewer, wanted to paint a more truthful picture of sex. Our score: three stars out of five.

Finally, French-speaking Belgium also received a nomination. RTBF won one in the ‘Soap or telenovella’ category Trentenairesthe French-language counterpart of the popular Flemish soap ‘Dertigers’.

One of the most prestigious categories of the Golden Rose is of course ‘Drama’. In it we find the big hits of 2022 as the HBO series The last of us and the second season of The white lotus. Also SiloApple TV+’s SF series is among them, and The good mothers, the critically acclaimed drama series about the mafia in Italy from Disney+. The series I hate Suzy toowhich can be viewed with us on Streamz, is also included, just like the British series Somewhere boy.