After the return of one of the most prestigious international awards for entertainment television, Eurovision shines a spotlight on each of this year's Rose d'Or winners starting with Reality and Factual Entertainment top pick Make Bradford British.

Heenan Bhatti, the director and series editor of Make Bradford British, is the first to admit that “using television to answer the big social questions of the age is tricky.” However, that didn't stop Love Productions and Channel 4 from asking the question. “It was very much the right time to do this series. Multiculturalism is an integral part of this country and we should be actively exploring our national identity as a consequence,” Heenan says.

Make Bradford British brings together 100 residents of Bradford to sit the government’s Life in the United Kingdom test that has been used since 2005 to establish who should be permitted to settle in the UK. To date, Channel 4’s own website reveals that of the more than 400,000 viewers who took the test online, slightly less than five per cent passed.

Eight of the filmed participants who failed the test were invited to spend time together to see if they could discover a common thread that links them all, despite different cultural, religious and social backgrounds.

“Our contributors ranged from a pub landlady to a former magistrate to a hijab-wearing university graduate. We wanted to tell the story from their perspective. We wanted a cross section of British citizens, holding a very different sense of what it means to be British," says Heenan, “and we’re incredibly grateful to the eight participants who were willing to show their emotional honesty, intelligence and commitment to this project. For me it allowed the series to have a depth and accessibility, which is key to its success.”

Heenan Bhatti, the director of Make Bradford British, on set (Courtesy of Love Productions)

Basing the programme in Bradford was not without controversy. Heenan explains, “Independent research cited it as one of the most deeply segregated areas in the country, and although there had been 'a great deal of progress in Bradford, there was still a great deal to be done. It felt like the right place to base the series which was exploring a question relevant to the whole country.”

In the series, the eight residents pair up and shadow each other to get a taste of the other's daily life - visiting a mosque for the first time, recalling a racially-motivated attack, a tearful pub confrontation and a dinner party.

Through challenging their assumptions about foreign cultures, their personal journeys detail how even the most different of people can find common ground, which in essence answers the big questions posed by show: what does it mean to be British? Heenan says, “The series concluded, through our contributors, that it comes down to tolerance. It’s about us accepting and understanding our neighbour. As one contributor put it, that can be as simple as having a cup of tea with somebody. We all share a great attribute in that we have the ability to learn something and to feel what others feel.”

When presenting the award, the head of the judging panel, Indriene Basarah, said that Make Bradford British was extremely well produced and innovative in that it not only touched the heart but also has the potential to be successful in other countries.

“It has been a very moving project to be part of,” Heenan says, “For me, it’s part of a debate about what brings us together rather than what keeps us apart. I hope Make Bradford British made its contribution to that national conversation.”