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We are so pleased to have won the best Specialist Factual Programme at the Broadcast Digital Awards 2024 for our documentary Forced Out: Their Fight For Pride. Congratulations to the whole team!

Forced Out tells the story of people who were discharged from the UK Armed Forces for being LGBTQ+, something that was illegal in the British army, navy, or RAF until 2000.

The programme features testimonies from veterans who faced intrusive investigations, ruthless interrogations and, in some cases, highly unethical physical examinations by the military police. Many were forced to resign or dismissed without support, with detrimental consequences to their mental health and livelihoods. Some were even imprisoned and given criminal records.  

The documentary also follows the struggle by a group of veterans to overturn the LGBTQ+ ban. Two months after Forced Out was broadcast, the Prime Minister delivered the first ever official government apology for the historic treatment of LGBTQ+ veterans in the House of Commons. 

Judges described the documentary as, “exceptionally moving” and “beautifully told”, as well as an “intimate, incredible first-hand testimony”. In addition, the judges praised the importance of the documentary, stating that “the change that these people instigated should not be underplayed or undervalued”.