1998 was a banner year for the Web and for Websites devoted to British Television. beeb.com continued to lead the way in the commercial sector while many fan produced sites rivaled their official counterparts.The 1998 UKTV Site of the Year Awards, voted on by more than two thousand web surfers, reflected this happy fact with scores of exemplary sites competing furiously in the various categories. In my last article I profiled the first half of the ballot from Best Commercial Site to Best Mystery Site, here, then, is the second part of my review of this years winners:
British television is justly famous for its groundbreaking science fiction and fantasy series.Millions of fans worldwide still follow the exploits of Doctor Who, Blake's Seven, The Tomorrow People and the varied denizens of such classic Gerry Anderson series as UFO and Space 1999. This year the voters chose the fine Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel) as the Best Sci-fi/ Fantasy Site and the UFO Series Homepage as the Fan Loyalty Award winner (see part one of this feature for a full explanation of the SotY98 voting). Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel) AKA The Doctor Who News Page, is the pre-eminent source for Whovian information. All areas of Gallifyian interest are covered here from the fate of the series, in reruns and the possibilities of new episodes, to books and merchandise and news of related projects such as the K-9 series and an animated Doctor Who series.UFO Series Homepage covers the world of SHADO in stunning detail. The treats on offer here range far beyond the usual FAQ, episode guide and picture gallery. Sections include Production & Marketing, Merchandise & Collectables. Fan Artwork & Fiction and Fan Clubs & Groups . There's also a neat selection of Desktop Themes, Screen Savers and flight simulators as well as a number of fascination articles on the history and production of the series.
Other sites receiving significant voter support included Blakes 7 (Adrenaline) , Space 1999 Cybrary and Tomorrow People (The Lab) .
From Rupert to Sooty, The Magic Roundabout to Live and Kicking, children's programming has been a valuable staple of British telly. This years winner in the Children's / Youth Website category is the official site for the BBC's all time great kid's show Blue Peter. The Blue Peter site, like the program itself, offers viewers a fun, interactive learning experience as well as a history of Blue Peter through the years. The Fan Loyalty Award winner was Nigel Baker's Bagpuss, a site dedicated to "The most Importan,.The most Beautiful,The most Magical Saggy old
