Garrow’s Law, a BBC legal drama inspired by the real life story of 18th century barrister William Garrow, was recognised by the Royal Television Society (RTS) when it was announced as a winner at the RTS Programme Awards 2009.

The BBC’s ‘Garrow’s Law: Tales from the Old Bailey’, which screened in 2009, was a four-part drama that told the story of William Garrow, a barrister who made his name at London’s famous Old Bailey court.

The programme makers relied heavily on the ‘Old Bailey Online’ digital archive when researching and writing the script. Funded by the AHRC, the Old Bailey Online is the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published.

The RTS Programme Awards celebrate all genres of television programming, from history to soaps, children's fiction to comedy performance. Covering both national and regional output, as well honouring the programmes themselves, they aim to recognise the work of exceptional actors, presenters, writers and production.

Garrow’s Law triumphed over Channel 4’s 1066-The Battle for Middle Earth, and BBC Two’s Iran and the West, to take the prize in the best ‘History’ category. The RTS said of Garrow’s Law, which was made by Twenty Twenty Television for BBC One, “The jury was very impressed by the accessible telling of such a good ‘unknown’ dramatic story based on strong historical research.”

The ceremony, held at Grosvenor House on Tuesday 16 March, was hosted by actor, comedian and radio presenter Rob Brydon and the awards were presented by RTS Chair, Wayne Garvie.

The AHRC-funded ‘Old Bailey Proceedings Online’ makes available a fully searchable, digitised collection of all surviving editions of the Old Bailey Proceedings from 1674 to 1913. It allows access to over 197,000 trials and biographical details of approximately 2,500 men and women executed at Tyburn, publicly available and completely free of charge.

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Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC):  Each year the AHRC provides approximately £102 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities, from languages and law, archaeology and English literature to design and creative and performing arts. In any one year, the AHRC makes approximately 700 research awards and around 1,350 postgraduate awards. Awards are made after a rigorous peer review process, to ensure that only applications of the highest quality are funded. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK.