The British Academy Television Award for Best Single Documentary is one of the major categories of the British Academy Television Awards (BAFTAs), the primary awards ceremony of the British television industry. According to the BAFTA website, the category is "for one-off documentaries only. Includes individual episodes of documentary strands."
The category has gone through some name changes since its inception: It was first awarded as an individual recognition from 1964 to 1970. From 1978 to 1983 it was presented as Best Documentary. From 1984 to 2006 it was presented as Flaherty Documentary Award or Robert Flaherty Documentary Award, also from 1984 to 1990, documentaries that used to compete for the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary competed in this category instead. Since 2007 it has been presented as Best Single Documentary.
Winners and nominees 1960s Year Recipient(s) Title1964 Anthony de Lotbinière 1965 Jack Gold 1966 Charles Squires The GraftersParadise Street Peter Batty The Fall and Rise of the House of KruppThe Road to Suez Richard Cawston Born Chinese Anthony de Lotbinière Eton: The Pacemakers Denis Mitchell SharonThe EntertainersThe Dream Machine Michael Tuchner A Little MadnessNo Mean City: FlorenceNo Mean City: AthensPilgrims to Lourdes1967 Kevin Billington 1968 1969 Michael Darlow, Mike Wooller Cities at War
1970s Best Factual Documentary Year Title Recipient(s)1970 A Year in the Life Paul Watson The Life And Times of Lord Mountbatten Peter Morley The Royal Family Richard Cawston Struggle For ChinaThe Gold RunCaptain RNIt Never Seemed To RainAll Or Nothing ManPapa DocThe Pugnacious PacifistWhicker's New World Tony Essex
Best Documentary Year Title Recipient(s)1978 Hospital: Casualty Tim King Goodbye Longfellow Road John Willis Whicker's World - "Palm Beach" Michael Tuchner World in Action: The Life and Death of Steve Biko Michael Ryan1979 Opium: The Warlords Adrian Cowell The Hong Kong Beat: The Bamboo Curtain John Purdie MacMillan's Mayerling Derek Bailey Whicker's World - "India: He's A Stuck-Up Maharajah - I'm Not Going To Marry Him" Ian Mcfarlane, Nigel Turner Nuts and Bolts Allan Segal
1980s Year Title Recipient(s)1980 Fred Dibnah: Steeplejack Don Haworth The World About Us: Bloody Ivory (Special) Simon Trevor, Bill Travers Kitty - Return To Auschwitz Peter Morley Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia David Munro Made In Korea Allan Segal1981 Strangeways: Christmas Rex Bloomstein Cambodia - Year One David Munro Great Railway Journeys of the World (for "Deccan") Gerry Troyna The South Bank Show: A Time There Was… A Profile Of Benjamin Britten Tony Palmer The World About Us - "Osprey" Hugh Miles1982 The Ritz Edward Mirzoeff The South Bank Show: Nickleby and Company Andrew Snell Prostitute I Am, Common I'm Not Judy Lever Snowdon on Camera Iain Johnstone1983 Laurence Olivier - A Life Melvyn Bragg, Bob Bee A Complaint of Rape Roger Graef, Charles Stewart Ice, Wind and Fire Michael Andrews The Orson Welles Story Alan Yentob, Leslie Megahey
Flaherty Documentary Award Year Title Recipient(s)1984 Schindler Jon Blair Forty Minutes - "Female Circumcision" Louise Panton The Visit - "Part 3: The Boy David" Alex McCall Wildlife on One - "Night Life" Dilys Breese1985 28 Up Michael Apted The South Bank Show: Alan Bennett David Hinton Afghanistan Reports: Allah Against the Gunships Sandy Gall GI Brides Lavinia Warner1986 Omnibus: Leonard Berstein's West Side Story Christopher Swann David Lean: A Life in Film Nigel Wattis Marilyn Monroe: Say Goodbye to the President Christopher Olgiati The Frozen Ocean - "Part 1 - Kingdom of The Ice Bear" Mike Salisbury, Hugh Miles1987 Shoah Claude Lanzmann British Cinema: Personal View - A Turnip Head's Guide to the British Cinema Alan Parker Equinox - "Prisoner of Consciousness" John Dollar Forty Minutes - "The Fishing Party" Paul Watson Omnibus - "The Mission" Robin Lough Viewpoint '86: Afghanistan: The Agony Of A Nation Sandy Gall1988 Baka - People of the Rain Forest Phil Agland Forty Minutes - "Home From The Hill" Molly Dineen Fourteen Days in May Paul Hamann Man-Eating Tigers, Saving The Tiger Naresh Bedi1989 This Week - "Death on the Rock" Chris Oxley The Duty Men: East Enders Paul Hamann In From The Cold: A Portrait of Richard Burton Tony Palmer Viewpoint Special: The Men Who Killed Kennedy Nigel Turner
1990s Year Title Recipient(s)1990 First Tuesday - "Four Hours in My Lai" || style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Kevin Sim|- | Everyman - "Romania - State of Fear" || John Blake |- | Lost Children of The Empire || Joanna Mack, Mike Fox |- | Viewpoint '89: Cambodia - Year 10: A Special Report by John Pilger || David Munro |- | rowspan="4" style="text-align:center;"|1991 || style="background:#B0C4DE;"|The Last African Flying Boat David Wallace Harold Lloyd - The Third Genius Kevin Brownlow, David Gill Viewpoint: Cambodia, The Betrayal - A Special Report by John Pilger David Munro Viewpoint: Ceausescu's Children Patricia Ingram1992 35 Up Michael Apted World in Action - "Special: The Birmingham Six - Their Own Story" Ian McBride, Charles Trernayne, Eamon O’Connor Viewpoint '91: Hellfighters of Kuwait Mike Rossiter True Stories - "The Leader, His Driver and the Driver's Wife" Nick Broomfield1993 Video Diaries: The Man Who Loves Gary Lineker Bob Long, Dr Yili Hasani Cutting Edge - "Tornado Down" Adam Bullmore, Tom Roberts First Tuesday - "Katie and Eilish - Siamese Twins" Mark Galloway Inside Story: Bag Lady David Pearson1994 Timewatch - "The Mysterious Career Of Lee Harvey Oswald" || style="background:#B0C4DE;"|William Cran|- | True Stories: The Unforgiving || Clive Gordon |- | Viewpoint '93: Saddam's Killing Fields || Rebecca Dobbs, Christopher Jeans |- | Sarajevo Diary || Neil Bell, Dom Rotheroe, Karl Schonfeld |- | rowspan="4" style="text-align:center;"|1995 || style="background:#B0C4DE;"|Inside Story: Silent Twin - Without My Shadow Olivia Lichtenstein Cutting Edge - "The Club" Frances Berrigan, Brian Hill, Kate Woods Torvill and Dean: Facing the Music Edward Mirzoeff 25 Bloody Years: The Dead Peter Dale1996 True Stories: The Betrayed Clive Gordon Anne Frank Remembered Jon Blair Network First: Man and Animal Anthony Thomas Secret Asia: The Dying Rooms Brian Woods, Kate Blewett1997 Horizon - "Fermat's Last Theorem" || style="background:#B0C4DE;"|John Lynch, Simon Singh|- | Cutting Edge - "The Home" || Paul Watson |- | Elton John: Tantrums & Tiaras || Polly Steele, Claudia Rosencrantz, David Furnish |- | Timewatch - "Remember Aberfan" || Catrine Clay |- | rowspan="4" style="text-align:center;"|1998 || style="background:#B0C4DE;"|True Stories: The Grave Belinda Giles Inside Story: Nazi Gold Christopher Olgiati Network First: Out of the Shadows/We Are The Treasury Ross Wilson Wildlife Special: Polar Bear Martha Holmes1999 After Lockerbie Ross Wilson 42 Up Michael Apted, Claire Lewis Horizon - "Mir Mortals" Jill Fullerton-Smith Inside Story: Tongue Tied Olivia Lichtenstein
2000s Year Title Recipient(s) Broadcaster2000 True Stories: Divorce Iranian Style Kim Longinotto, Ziba Mir-Hosseini Channel 4 Gulag Angus Macqueen BBC Two True Stories: Kosovo - The Valley Dan Reed Channel 4 Malcolm and Barbara - A Love Story Paul Watson, Kim Horton ITV2001 True Stories: 100% White Leo Regan Channel 4 The Boy David - The Return Desmond Wilcox, Alex McCall BBC One Endurance: Shackleton and the Antarctic George Butler, Caroline Alexander, Jeremy Evans Channel 4 The Man Who Bought Mustique Joseph Bullman, Vikram Jayanti2002 Kelly and Her Sisters Marilyn Gaunt ITV True Stories: Battlecentre Leo Regan, Roy Ackerman, Paul Van Dyck Channel 4 Ellen MacArthur: Sailing Through Heaven and Hell Steve Robinson, Ellen MacArthur BBC One When Louis Met The Hamiltons David Mortimer, Gabe Solomon, Will Yapp, Louis Theroux2003 Feltham Sings Roger Graef, Brian Hill Channel 4 9/11: The Tale of Two Towers Michael Attwell FiveSAS Embassy Siege BBC Two Thalidomide - Life at 40 Benetta Adamson2004 One Life: Lager, Mum and Me Todd Austin, Min Clough BBC One My Family and Autism Jenny Abbott, Fran Landsman BBC Two Pompeii: The Last Day Michael J. Mosley, Peter Nicholson, Ailsa Orr BBC One Real Life: Being Terri James Allen, Andrea Cornes, Ron Trickett ITV2005 The Orphans of Nkandla BBC Four The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off Patrick Collerton Channel 4The F***ing Fulfords The Brighton Bomb BBC One2006 Make Me Normal Brian Hill, Zac Beattie, Jonathan Smith Channel 4 Children Of Beslan BBC Two Taxidermy: Stuff The World Brian Hill, Elodie Gornall, Morgan Matthews The Real Sex Traffic Simcha Jacobovici, Brian Woods, Ric Esther Bienstock Channel 4
Best Single Documentary Year Title Recipient(s) Broadcaster2007 Evicted Brian Woods, Deborah Shipley, Jeremy Wales, Katy Sheppard BBC One Breaking Up With The Joneses Ursula Macfarlane, Saskia Wilson, Dave Nath, Gregor Lyon Channel 4 9/11: The Falling Man Henry Singer, John Smithson, Sue Bourne, Julian Ware Rain in My Heart Paul Watson BBC Two2008 Lie of the Land Molly Dineen, Justin Krish, Catherine Bailey, Mark Frith Channel 4 Beautiful Young Minds Morgan Matthews, Edmund Coulthard, Grant McKee, David Brindley BBC Two Malcolm and Barbara: Love's Farewell Paul Watson, Kim Horton ITVParallel Worlds, Parallel Lives BBC Four2009 True Stories: Chosen Brian Woods, Caroline Haydon, Chris Eley, Jimmy Edmonds Channel 4 The Fallen Morgan Matthews, Elodie Gornall, Joby Gee, David Brindley BBC TwoA Boy Called Alex Channel 4 Thriller in Manila John Dower, John Smithson, Elinor Day, Andrew MacKenzie More4
2010s