Madam and Eve scoops award

Roberta Durrant the producer from Penguin Films received the award in Montreux at a gala award ceremony on Saturday evening.

Says Durrant "It was a pleasant surprise and a great honour that Madam and Eve received the second prize in the sitcom category out of 19 entries from around the world. Madam and Eve was compared with the best of the UK and Europe comedy offerings. Having been considered better than shows like "A Perfect World" and "My Hero" from the BBC, "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme" and "The Ellen Show" is no mean achievement.

I felt extremely proud of South Africa on the gala night when I received the prize on behalf of the Madam and Eve team, along with the best of the British and European comedy fraternity. In the light entertainment field the British shows in the competition won all the awards with the exception of "Madam and Eve" from South Africa and "Hipphipp" from Sweden which won in the comedy category. The judges made the following statement about Madam and Eve " The characters were all very lovable and the episode constantly surprised us which made it extremely funny and fresh."

Madam and Eve is one of the few South African television productions to win an international award and certainly the first sitcom to do so. What a good thing that Stephen Francis came to South Africa from America and created these characters along with Rico Schacherl from Rapid Phase. And what a good thing that Etv had the faith to commission the sitcom."

South Africa also featured in the Arts and Specials category where a documentary on the life of South African poet Ingrid Jonker, entitled "A Mere Grain Of Nothing My Death" directed by the acclaimed Dutch director Sakia van Schaik took first prize.