The Netflix drama series The Crown leads the nominations at this year’s Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, chosen by journalists who write about TV and radio. Its stars Claire Foy and Matt Smith, who play Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, have been nominated in the acting categories, Peter Morgan is shortlisted for best writer, and the series is nominated as the best ‘online first or streaming’ programme.
The 43rd annual BPG awards, sponsored this year for the first time by Virgin TV, will be presented next month at a lunch in central London. The company said: “Virgin TV are delighted to be sponsoring the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards 2017. Together we’re brilliantly bringing together the TV people love.” For more information visit www.virginmedia.com/tv
Keeley Hawes (Line of Duty, The Missing, The Durrells), Sarah Lancashire (Happy Valley) and Andrea Riseborough (National Treasure, The Witness for the Prosecution) will compete against Foy for the best actress award. Robbie Coltrane (National Treasure),Hugh Laurie (The Night Manager) and James Norton (War and Peace, Happy Valley and Grantchester) are shortlisted with Smith for best actor.
Morgan will compete with Jack Thorne (National Treasure, C4), Phoebe Waller Bridge (Fleabag, BBC Three) and Sally Wainwright (Happy Valley, To Walk Invisible, BBC One) for the Writer’s Award.
Line of Duty (BBC Two), The Night Manager and War and Peace (both BBC One) and The Tunnel – Sabotage (Sky Atlantic) are shortlisted for best TV drama series. Four BBC One plays – A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Damilola Our Loved Boy, The Witness for the Prosecution and To Walk Invisible – will compete with Sky 1’s The Last Dragonslayer for the best single drama award.
Two BBC Two documentaries by Louis Theroux – Drinking to Oblivion and Savile – have been nominated as Best Single Documentary, alongside Hillsborough (BBC Two) and The Fall – Zola Budd and Mary Decker (Sky Atlantic).
Exodus: Our Journey to Europe and Inside Obama’s White House (both BBC Two) are nominated for Best Documentary Series, with Planet Earth II (BBC One) and Richard E Grant on Ealing Comedies (Gold).
In the Best Entertainment/Factual Entertainment category, The Great British Bake Off, The Graham Norton Show and Strictly Come Dancing (all BBC One) will be competing with Taskmaster (Dave). The Best Comedy award will be contested by Alan Partridge’s Mid Morning Matters (Sky Atlantic) and Motherland, Mum and Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle (all BBC Two).
The BPG Awards – given only for work commissioned in the UK – are highly prized by programme-makers because they are selected independently by TV and radio correspondents, critics and previewers.
The Awards lunch, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Friday March 17th 2017, will be sponsored for the first time by Virgin Media (see ‘Notes to editors’ below). The event will be attended by the winners, BPG members and leading broadcasting executives.
The BPG is again recognising the growing importance of programmes commissioned for streaming or showing online first, instead of on a broadcast channel. The Best Online First/Streaming award will be contested by The Crown and Black Mirror (both Netflix), Adam Curtis: HyperNormalisation (BBC iPlayer) and Fleabag (BBC Three).
The Best of Multichannel (non-PSB) Award will go to one of the five non-PSB programmes shortlisted in drama, documentaries, comedy and entertainment.
The nominations for the annual BPG award for innovation in broadcasting are Exodus: Our Journey to Europe (BBC Two) – for innovative use of crowd-sourced content to tell a compelling story; Walter Presents – for bringing the best of subtitled drama to a wider on-demand audience, for free; and Facebook Live – for bringing the capacity to create and watch live video-streaming to mass audiences.
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Further information from Torin Douglas, BPG, 07860 422992
Notes to editors:
- The winners will be announced at the 43rd BPG Awards lunch in the beautifully restored Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Friday March 17th 2017, sponsored by Virgin TV. The Harvey Lee Award for outstanding contribution to broadcasting, which is in the gift of the BPG Executive Committee, will be presented as well. Winners will be informed in advance and places at the lunch are by invitation only.
- Virgin TV is part of Virgin Media, which offers four multi award-winning services across the UK and Ireland: broadband, TV, mobile phone and landline. Its interactive TV service brings live programmes, thousands of hours of on-demand programming and the best apps and games in a set-top box, as well as on-the-go for tablets and smartphones. It launched the world’s first virtual mobile network and is also one of the largest fixed-line home phone providers in the UK and Ireland. Virgin Media is part of Liberty Global, the world’s largest international cable company, with operations in more than 30 countries. www.virginmedia.com/tv
- The shortlists for Radio Broadcaster of the Year and Radio Programme of the Year will be announced in a week’s time.
- The Broadcasting Press Guild was founded in 1974 and has more than a hundred members. They are journalists who specialise in covering television, radio and the media, and include critics, previewers, media correspondents and feature writers from national newspapers, broadcasters and leading trade journals and websites.
- BPG Best Actress winners include Dame Eileen Atkins, Dame Helen Mirren, Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Gillian Anderson, Vanessa Redgrave, Maxine Peake, Anne-Marie Duff, Dame Diana Rigg, Zoe Wanamaker, Gina McKee, Julie Walters, Olivia Colman, Sheridan Smith and Juliet Stevenson.
- The BPG Best Actor award has been awarded to Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, Colin Firth, Sir Alec Guinness, Albert Finney, Charles Dance, Robert Hardy, Jim Broadbent, Christopher Ecclestone, Benedict Cumberbatch, Toby Jones and Dominic West among others (see more details and photos at http://www.broadcastingpressguild.org/.)
The full list of nominations is:
Best Single Drama
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Russell T Davies version) (BBC One)
Damilola, Our Loved Boy (BBC One)
The Last Dragonslayer (Sky1)
The Witness for the Prosecution (BBC One)
To Walk Invisible (BBC One) 4/
BPG Awards 2017 – TV nominations /4
Best Drama Series
Line of Duty (BBC Two)
The Night Manager (BBC One)
The Tunnel – Sabotage (Sky Atlantic)
War and Peace (BBC One)
Best Single Documentary
Hillsborough (BBC Two)
Louis Theroux – Drinking to Oblivion (BBC Two)
Louis Theroux – Savile (BBC Two)
The Fall – Zola Budd and Mary Decker (Sky Atlantic)
Best Documentary Series
Exodus: Our Journey to Europe (BBC Two)
Inside Obama’s White House (BBC Two)
Planet Earth II (BBC One)
Richard E. Grant on Ealing Comedies (Gold)
Best Entertainment/ Factual Entertainment
Great British Bake-Off (BBC One)
The Graham Norton Show (BBC One)
Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One)
Taskmaster (Dave)
Best Comedy
Alan Partridge’s Mid Morning Matters (Sky Atlantic)
Motherland (BBC Two)
Mum (BBC Two)
Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle (BBC Two)
Best Actor
Robbie Coltrane (National Treasure)
Hugh Laurie (The Night Manager)
James Norton (War and Peace, Happy Valley, Grantchester)
Matt Smith (The Crown)
Best Actress
Claire Foy (The Crown)
Keeley Hawes (Line of Duty, The Missing, The Durrells)
Sarah Lancashire (Happy Valley)
Andrea Riseborough (National Treasure, The Witness for The Prosecution)
Best of Multichannel (non-PSB)
Alan Partridge’s Mid Morning Matters (Sky Atlantic)
The Fall – Zola Budd and Mary Decker (Sky Atlantic)
The Last Dragonslayer (Sky1)
Richard E. Grant on Ealing Comedies (Gold)
Taskmaster (Dave)
The Tunnel – Sabotage (Sky Atlantic) 5/
BPG Awards 2017 – TV nominations /5
Best Online First/Streaming
Adam Curtis: HyperNormalisation (BBC iPlayer)
Black Mirror (Netflix)
The Crown (Netflix)
Fleabag (BBC Three)
Best Writer
Phoebe Waller Bridge (Fleabag)
Peter Morgan (The Crown)
Jack Thorne (National Treasure)
Sally Wainwright (Happy Valley, To Walk Invisible)
BPG Innovation in Broadcasting Award
Exodus: Our Journey to Europe (BBC Two) – for innovative use of crowd-sourced content to tell a compelling story
Walter Presents – for bringing the best of subtitled television drama to a wider, on-demand audience, for free
Facebook Live – for bringing the capacity for creating and watching live video streaming to mass audiences
Further information from Torin Douglas, BPG, 07860 422992