I’m a bit late to the party with this, but ‘better late than never’ as my old gaffer used to say.

FantasyCon took place on 26th September 2021 in Birmingham, and as part of this, the annual British Fantasy Award winners were announced. I so wish I’d been able to go, but 1) I’m still wary about travelling due to covid as I have vulnerable family members and 2) it was Tiny Terror’s 3rd birthday and I have a weird thing about not missing/celebrating birthdays. Yes, I’m still a child at heart but I don’t care.

In case you missed it, I was lucky enough to be part of the jury panel for the Best Film/Television production category, along with the wonderful Martyn Sullivan, Amit Khaira, Sarah Pinborough and Arabella Sophia. I so enjoyed our Zoom call to discuss all the nominees – it was lovely to speak to people with the same interests and passions as me, and each one of them was easy to get along with. Plus, I enjoyed watching each nominated film/programme and really putting some thought into the ones I liked best and why.

In the end, there wasn’t much of an argument over the winner to be honest – it was more a meeting of liked-minded people discussing their favourites and why, without all the drama and fire of ‘this one HAS to win because I said so!’ Honestly, it was super chilled – I honestly wish I could do it all over again.

Anyway, after a bit of deliberation (where I admitted I really didn’t like Saint Maud, and we all agreed that Birds of Prey was…well, not great, to put it politely), we all agreed that the winner should be…drum roll please…The Boys: What I Know (season 2, episode 8).

This was the one nominee that we all agreed was fantastic – in fact, we realised it was the clear winner when we kept saying ‘it’s The Boys or…’ and then realised that if we all agreed The Boys was so great, well, there wasn’t much else to be said. What an end to a series! You were left feeling satisfied with the ending, but it still left you wanting more. The character arcs were superb, and it was just overall an amazing piece of TV. It still makes my heart hurt to think about that ending, as well being super excited/impatient for season 3 to come out (HELLO JENSEN ACKLES!).

Also, in my weird little world, I love the fact that I’m now connected – in a tiny way – to two of my favourite things in the world; the legend that is Karl Urban (whenever I see him in something new, I still say ‘hey there’s Eomer!’ first, before I remember his real name) and Eric Kripke (Supernatural fan 4eva here). It gives me a tiny warm glow to think that I’m connected to these two people who have had such a huge influence throughout my life, and it’s truly been an honour to name The Boys as the winner of this award.

So that’s it! You can check out the full list of winners on the Society’s website here, as well as watch a replay of the ceremony. Over the next few weeks/months I’ll also be posting more in-depth reviews of each nominee, as I feel like I still need to talk about them because there’s sssoo much to unpack, so stay tuned!

Til next time,

Z x