Happy Valley, The Gold, Slow Horses and Top Boy are the four shows battling it out to be named best drama of the past year at the BAFTA TV Awards later today.
Stars including Brian Cox, Sarah Lancashire, Kane “Kano” Robinson, Dominic West, Sharon Horgan, Helena Bonham Carter, Bella Ramsey and Steve Coogan are among the big names in the running for acting awards at the ceremony, which takes place at London’s Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank.
Comedians Romesh Ranganathan and Rob Beckett take on hosting duties, with celebrities set to hit the red carpet this afternoon ahead of the main event.
Behind-the-scenes prizes for categories including costume, make-up and sound have already been presented at the BAFTA Craft Awards, which took place at the end of April.
Last year’s Eurovision Song Contest, dark satire Black Mirror, Apple TV+ espionage thriller Slow Horses and dystopian drama Silo were among the major winners at that ceremony, taking home two prizes each.
The Crown, which led the nominations ahead of both awards, with four main nods and four for craft, went home empty-handed, missing out on the prizes for costume, hair and make-up, sound and visual effects. Stars Dominic West (Prince Charles), Elizabeth Debicki (Princess Diana), Lesley Manville (Princess Margaret) and Salim Daw (Mohamed Al Fayed) are up for acting prizes at today’s event.
In the news coverage category, Sky News takes two of the three slots, for its coverage on Myanmar and the Israel-Hamas war. Channel 4 is also nominated for its coverage of the war.
Read more:
The full list of BAFTA TV nominees
Inside Myanmar’s secret jungle hospital
Big Boys, Dreaming Whilst Black, Extraordinary and Such Brave Girls are up for best-scripted comedy, while The Bear, Beef, Class Act, The Last Of Us, Love & Death and Succession are shortlisted for best international series.
Bridget Christie (The Change), Gbemisola Ikumelo (Black Ops), Mairead Tyers and Sofia Oxenham (Extraordinary), Roisin Gallagher (The Lovers) and Taj Atwal (Hullraisers) are shortlisted for best female performance, while Adjani Salmon (Dreaming Whilst Black), David Tennant (Good Omens), Hammed Animashaun (Black Ops), Jamie Demetriou (A Whole Lifetime with Jamie Demetriou), Joseph Gilgun (Brassic) and Mawaan Rizwan (Juice) are shortlisted for best male comedy performance.
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What was your best TV moment of 2023?
Six of last year’s biggest TV moments are also up for the memorable moment award, which is voted for by the public. These include the famous Rolls Royce scene from Netflix’s Beckham documentary, which saw footballer David tease his Spice Girl wife Victoria about her ‘working class’ upbringing, along with Doctor Who unveiling Ncuti Gatwa as the fifteenth timelord, and Catherine Cawood and Tommy Lee Royce’s dramatic kitchen showdown in the final series of Happy Valley.
Succession is also in the running for Logan Roy’s abrupt death, along with an emotional episode of The Last Of Us, for its emotional episode dedicated to Bill and Frank, and a scene in Channel 4’s The Piano which saw 13-year-old Lucy, who is blind and neurodivergent, stunning commuters in Leeds by playing a complex Chopin piece.
A total of 118 programmes have been shortlisted across the board, and for 17 out of 44 nominees in the performance categories it is their first BAFTA nod.
