National win for Northumbria film graduates
Comedy short What Now? beat student productions from across the UK and Ireland to win a national Royal Television Society award
A comedy short by a team of Northumbria University graduates has won national recognition at the 2026 Royal Television Society Student Awards in London
What Now?, a comedy about an inept robber, won the Best Entertainment and Comedy prize, beating student productions from across the UK and Ireland.
The film was made by graduates Ben Pywell, Thomas Crawley, Luke Bean and Matthew Rawston, alongside their wider production team.
The national win follows success at the regional RTS Student Awards earlier this year, where the film came out top in the Student Entertainment and Comedy Drama category.
Originally conceived as a thriller before taking a sharp comic turn, What Now? evolved into what Ben has described as an absurdist comedy, drawing inspiration from Monty Python and Key & Peele.
The production also had its fair share of behind-the-scenes challenges.
After multiple knockbacks from shop owners, the team eventually secured a Newcastle corner shop as their filming location, shooting the entire film across three early-morning sessions.
Congratulating them on their win, Graeme Thompson, chair of RTS Education and chair of the RTS North East & Borders annual awards, said : “There are more than 700 student films (undergraduate & post graduate) in contention across the UK & Ireland.
“Making it into the top three in their category is impressive. So winning is a proper achievement - and the film is genuinely funny.”