Lloyd Edgar (Abbey Films) wins Best Creative Business at the Ards Peninsula Business Awards 2026
Abbey Films has been named Best Creative Business at the 2026 Ards Peninsula Business Awards, held on Friday 12 June at the Clandeboye Lodge Hotel in Bangor.
The award, sponsored by Peninsula Care Services, was presented at the gala ceremony hosted by BBC presenter Holly Hamilton — who, like Abbey Films, traces her own roots back to the village of Greyabbey on the Ards Peninsula.
What the judges said
Announcing the win, Holly Hamilton read the judges' citation in full:
"Congratulations to the finalists, but the winning application demonstrated creativity at the very heart of the business — combining high-quality production with authentic storytelling and strong commercial awareness. The judges were impressed by the breadth of work delivered, the calibre of clients, and the continued commitment to showcasing local people, places and businesses through engaging and memorable content. The winner of the Best Creative Business, sponsored by Peninsula Care Services, is Abbey Films."
It's a citation I'll keep on the wall for a long time. Recognition of the work is always welcome; recognition specifically of the local element of the work - that the films I make for the BBC and Channel 5 about people from this area are, fundamentally, of a piece with the films I make for businesses on this Peninsula - means a great deal.
The event
More than 300 guests gathered at the Clandeboye Lodge for the largest edition of the awards to date. Organised by Newtownards Chamber of Trade and held in association with Ards Business Hub as lead sponsor and Ards and North Down Borough Council, the awards recognise excellence across 18 categories spanning retail, hospitality, manufacturing, tourism, community impact and the creative industries.
Holly Hamilton - Greyabbey-raised, BBC Breakfast and BBC Sport presenter, and former Cool FM / Downtown Radio broadcaster - returned to host the evening for a second consecutive year. There's a particular pleasure in having an award presented by someone whose own path tracked through the same small village I grew up in, the same secondary school, and (further down the line) the same Kiltonga Industrial Estate that gave me my first job in entertainment.
Sponsors and partners across the evening included Abbey Autoline, Specsavers, KNOTTS, the Newtownards Chronicle (media partner) and Love Local Comber, alongside the headline support of Ards Business Hub and Ards and North Down Borough Council.
What the win recognises
The Best Creative Business award is open to businesses that can demonstrate creativity at the core of what they do - whether through design, branding, content, craftsmanship or the creative use of technology.
The application I submitted made a single argument: that the cinematic techniques I use directing documentaries for BBC One, Channel 5, RTÉ and TG4 are the same techniques I bring to a Newtownards retailer, a Bangor council campaign, or a Portavogie tourism film. Character-led narrative, observational shooting, broadcast-grade sound design, motion graphics, drone cinematography - the craft doesn't change between a Royal Ballet principal and a local start-up. The story does. The respect for the subject does not.
A few of the projects the judges referenced:
The launch film for Origin Gymnastics in Newtownards - pitched, directed and delivered as a single ambitious image: Olympic gold medallist Rhys McClenaghan MBE performing his winning pommel-horse routine on top of Scrabo Hill, framed against the Ards Peninsula below. It became the centrepiece of the brand's VIP launch event and anchored their website homepage for the whole of their first year.
The Heritage, Heart and Hope films for Ards and North Down Borough Council, produced to mark Bangor receiving its City Status as part of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee - three short films, more than twenty local businesses featured, used across civic events and council channels.
Two films for the Labour Market Partnership, made for ANDBC, applying documentary technique to a programme that has supported 520 residents into training and 245 people into employment since 2021.
The Rural Retreat itinerary film for Visit Ards and North Down, taking a national tourism audience through Millisle, Ballywalter, Ballyhalbert, Portavogie and Cloughey - every village on that route a place I grew up around.
And on the broadcast side, the three films that have built this whole practice up: Chasing Gold (BBC One, 2023), Love Nature (Channel 5, 2026), and Principal Ballerina (BBC One, 2026), which follows Royal Ballet Principal Dancer, Melissa Hamilton.
Thank you
Sincere thanks to Newtownards Chamber of Trade, Ards Business Hub and the plannd events team for putting on an event that genuinely reflects the calibre of the local business community. Thanks to Peninsula Care Services for sponsoring the Best Creative Business category, to the independent judging panel for taking the application as seriously as they did, and to Holly Hamilton for hosting the special evening.
Most of all, thanks to the clients on the Ards Peninsula who've trusted me with their stories over the last eight years. Abbey Films exists because of them. The work that won this award is, fundamentally, theirs.
Looking ahead
Abbey Films is named after Greyabbey, where I grew up. My studio is now at Inspire Business Centre in Dundonald, but the editorial instinct - to keep the emotional focus on home, whether the film airs on BBC One or in a Newtownards shop window - hasn't changed and isn't going to. If anything, this award is a confirmation that it's worth pushing further.
If you're a business, council or cultural organisation on the Peninsula (or anywhere in Northern Ireland, Ireland or the UK) and you'd like to talk about a brand film, documentary, or commercial project, I'd love to hear from you.
📞 07407 195957 ✉️ lloyd@abbeyfilms.uk 🌐 Brand films and case studies
Work with Lloyd Edgar
Lloyd Edgar is a Northern Ireland-based documentary director, shooting producer/director and editor. He shot, directed and edited Rhys McClenaghan: Chasing Gold — a half-hour BBC documentary that began on the True North strand and was selected for national broadcast on BBC One as part of Our Lives, establishing him as one of the youngest directors ever featured in the strand. His follow-up film, Principal Ballerina, following Royal Ballet Principal Melissa Hamilton, was broadcast for the same strands, and he directed a ten-part conservation series for Channel 5.
Alongside his work as a director, Lloyd works as an editor, camera operator, drone pilot and motion graphics designer for both television and commercial productions, with credits for production companies including Ronin Films, Fine Point, CleanSlate and Triplevision. He is, in short, a multi-skilled, broadcast-proven documentary director — a safe pair of hands.
Production companies and executive producers looking for a documentary director or shooting PD in Belfast and across Northern Ireland can get in touch.