Skins among Rose d'Or TV winners

Skins follows the exploits of a group of young people

Teen drama Skins was among a string of British-made programmes to pick up a Rose d'Or award in Switzerland.

The offbeat series, shown on Channel 4 and E4, was best drama. It beat Billie Piper's Secret Diary of a Call Girl, from ITV2, and BBC One's Jekyll.

Other UK winners included Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd and BBC Two's comedy The Peter Serafinowicz Show.

The Rose d'Or awards are given out annually at a TV festival in Lucerne, now in its 48th year.

Serafinowicz was named best entertainer, with The IT Crowd winning best sitcom.

Channel 4 ballet documentary Strictly Bolshoi was the recipient of the trophy for best arts documentary.

And BBC satirical series Kombat Opera Presents... picked up the awards for best comedy and for being the "best of 2008".

'Exceptional quality'

The Street II, the BBC series which followed the lives of residents of a street in Manchester, also received a special mention in the drama category.

"This year's programmes were of exceptional quality, which presented our international jurors with a challenging task," festival director Urban Frye said.

"However, the calibre of entries proves not only that the Rose d'Or is back at the heart of European creativity, but also that it is possible to create programmes with cross-cultural and cross-generational appeal."

This year's festival attracted a record 402 entries from 34 countries.