Grenfell: Uncovered, Rogan Productions’ Netflix film about the decisions that led to the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire, won best single documentary (domestic) at the 54th Grierson Awards, the British documentary prizes run by the Grierson Trust, in London on Tuesday 10 November. The BBC was the most decorated broadcaster, with four of the 16 competitive prizes, and Netflix took three.
The split says a good deal about who pays for British documentary. Public broadcasters commissioned most of the winners, but the streamers took both single-documentary awards, and three of their five prizes went to American films. Anna Godas, chief executive and co-founder of the distributor and sales company Dogwoof, received the BBC Grierson Trustees’ Award.
Key facts
- Awards: 54th Grierson British Documentary Awards, Grierson Trust, London, 10 November 2026; 16 competitive prizes plus the Trustees’ Award
- Best single documentary (domestic): Grenfell: Uncovered (Rogan Productions for Netflix)
- Best single documentary (international): The Perfect Neighbor (Message Pictures, SO’B Productions and Park Pictures for Netflix)
- Wins by commissioner: BBC 4, Netflix 3, Channel 4 2, Sky Documentaries 2; ITV, National Geographic, Olympics.com and S4C 1 each
- Trustees’ Award: Anna Godas, Dogwoof
The single-documentary prizes
Directed by Olaide Sadiq, Grenfell: Uncovered draws on the evidence heard by the public inquiry and on the production’s own research, and is told through survivors, bereaved families and the firefighters who attended. The fire killed 72 people. The jury called the film “a masterclass in structure” and singled out its access, its research and its “obvious contributor care”.
The Grierson extends a long run. The film had its world premiere at Sheffield DocFest on 19 June 2025, where it won the audience award, and began streaming on Netflix the next day. Rogan Productions lists 2026 wins at the BAFTA Television Awards and the RTS Programme Awards for single documentary, and at the Broadcast Awards for best documentary programme.
Geeta Gandbhir’s The Perfect Neighbor, about a white woman in Florida who shot her Black neighbour, took the international prize. Deadline reported that it beat Mr Nobody Against Putin, which won the Oscar for documentary feature in March over a field that included The Perfect Neighbor. The Grierson jury called it “courageous and innovative” for the way it uses a single incident to expose wider racial violence. Netflix’s third award was for Songs from the Hole, Contessa Gayles’s portrait of the musician JJ’88, which won best arts and music documentary.
Four producers, four BBC prizes
The BBC’s haul was spread across four independent producers and four categories: Minnow Films’ Children of the Blitz (history), Curious Films’ Confessions of a Brain Surgeon (science and natural history), Rex TV’s Miriam Margolyes Made Me Me (most entertaining) and Hamza’s Hidden Wild Isles, from Silverback Films and the Open University, which won best presenter for Hamza Yassin. Channel 4 took both series awards, for Passion Pictures’ See No Evil and Double Act’s Virgin Island.
ITV’s one prize was best current affairs documentary, for Benjamin Zand’s Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel’s War, made by his company Zandland. Sky Documentaries won twice, with Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman’s The Alabama Solution (crime and justice) and Hilla Medalia’s Oscar-nominated short Children No More: Were and Are Gone.
Tamara Kotevska’s The Tale of Silyan, about a North Macedonian farmer who nurses an injured white stork back to health, won best cinema documentary. Made by Concordia Studio, The Corner Shop and Ciconia Film, it premiered at Venice in 2025 and was released by National Geographic Documentary Films, with Picturehouse in North America and Dogwoof internationally.
By the trust’s count, six of the winning films were directed by women, eight by men and two by female-male teams. Banijay UK was headline sponsor.
The winners
The complete list, with production companies and commissioners as published by the Grierson Trust. Directors are named where confirmed by the film’s producer or broadcaster.
Best single documentary, domestic: Grenfell: Uncovered, Olaide Sadiq (Rogan Productions for Netflix)
Best single documentary, international: The Perfect Neighbor, Geeta Gandbhir (Message Pictures, SO’B Productions, Park Pictures for Netflix)
Best current affairs documentary: Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel’s War, Benjamin Zand (Zandland for ITV1/ITVX)
Best arts and music documentary: Songs from the Hole, Contessa Gayles (Cocomotion Pictures, Question Culture, in association with Impact Partners and Artemis Rising Foundation, for Netflix)
Best sports documentary: Champions of the Golden Valley, Ben Sturgulewski (Olympic Channel, XTR Studios, Sturgefilm, Tideshift, Optimist, Taleem for Olympics.com)
Best history documentary: Children of the Blitz (Minnow Films for BBC)
Best science and natural history documentary: Confessions of a Brain Surgeon (Curious Films for BBC)
Best crime and justice documentary: The Alabama Solution, Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman (HBO Documentary Films, Hit the Ground Running for Sky Documentaries)
Most entertaining documentary: Miriam Margolyes Made Me Me (Rex TV for BBC)
Best documentary series: See No Evil (Passion Pictures for Channel 4)
Best constructed and formatted documentary series: Virgin Island (Double Act for Channel 4)
Best cinema documentary: The Tale of Silyan, Tamara Kotevska (Concordia Studio, The Corner Shop, Ciconia Film for National Geographic)
Best student documentary: In the Name of Mother (National Film and Television School)
Best documentary short: Children No More: Were and Are Gone, Hilla Medalia (Medalia Productions, SALTY Features, Full Story Films for Sky Documentaries)
Best digital documentary: Barcud (ITV Cymru Wales for S4C)
Best documentary presenter: Hamza Yassin, Hamza’s Hidden Wild Isles (Silverback Films, the Open University for BBC)
BBC Grierson Trustees’ Award: Anna Godas, Dogwoof
Godas and the business of independent documentary
The trustees credited Godas with more than 20 years of opening new routes to finance and market for independent documentary, and with taking Dogwoof beyond UK distribution to connect filmmakers with international buyers, distributors and production partners. Her company runs through this year’s list and beyond it. Dogwoof is the international distributor of The Tale of Silyan, and in the UK and Ireland it released NAZA, which had sold 102,509 tickets there by the producers’ latest count, part of a run past 1.5 million admissions worldwide.
The trust’s chair, Tom McDonald, said documentary was “still in rude health” despite a difficult market, in the year the trust marks a century since John Grierson first used the word. The wider production figures are less cheerful: high-end television spend in the UK fell by a fifth in the first nine months of 2026 against the same period last year as first reported, according to the BFI. Grierson’s name also sits on the documentary competition at the BFI London Film Festival, where Concrete Land won the Grierson Award in October.
Public service broadcasters (the BBC, Channel 4, ITV and S4C) commissioned eight of the 15 winners that carry a channel or platform credit, the student prize being the exception. Netflix and Sky Documentaries, the two subscription services, accounted for five. Three of those five, The Perfect Neighbor, Songs from the Hole and The Alabama Solution, are American productions, and Children No More was made by Israeli and American companies with Sky.
Our reading
Public broadcasters remain the base of British documentary, and the streamers supply a handful of its highest-profile single films. The BBC’s four prizes came from four independent producers working in history, science, entertainment and wildlife, the range a licence-fee commissioner is there to fund. Netflix took both single-documentary awards, but only one of its three winners, Grenfell: Uncovered, was made in Britain. For a UK producer, the night’s message is that the streamers buy a few big films a year, while the public broadcasters still pay for most of the rest.
Honouring Godas makes the same point from the business side. Dogwoof finances, sells and releases documentaries across borders, and the trustees put that work on the same stage as the films.
Sources
- Grierson Trust, The Grierson Awards 2026 winners (official list)
- Grierson Trust winners announcement with production companies, broadcasters and jury citations, as published by Business Doc Europe (11 November 2026)
- Televisual, Grierson British Documentary Awards winners announced (11 November 2026)
- Deadline, Grierson Awards 2026 (11 November 2026; Mr Nobody Against Putin in the international category)
- Rogan Productions, Grenfell: Uncovered film page (credits, awards)
- Sheffield DocFest, Grenfell: Uncovered wins Audience Award (world premiere 19 June 2025)
- ITV Press Centre, Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel's War (directed by Benjamin Zand)
- Medalia Productions, Children No More: Were and Are Gone (director Hilla Medalia)
- Business Doc Europe, Oscars 2026 nominees and winner (16 March 2026)
- Netflix Media Center, Grenfell: Uncovered
- National Geographic, The Tale of Silyan theatrical release announcement (30 October 2025; Venice premiere, Picturehouse North America, Dogwoof international)