Jeremy Clarkson will go head-to-head with David Attenborough and Grayson Perry in this year’s Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, to be presented next month in London.
Clarkson’s Farm (Prime Video) has been shortlisted for best TV and streaming documentary series, alongside Attenborough’s A Perfect Planet (BBC One), Grayson’s Art Club (Channel 4) and two BBC Two series – Life In Ten Pictures and Blair & Brown: The New Labour Revolution.
Olivia Colman, Jodie Comer, Claire Foy and Lydia West will compete for the best actress award. Colman is nominated for her role in Landscapers (HBO/Sky), Comer for Help (Channel 4), Foy for A Very British Scandal (BBC One) and West for It’s a Sin (Channel 4)
Shortlisted as best actor are Sean Bean and Stephen Graham for Time (BBC One), Sanjeev Bhaskar for Unforgotten (ITV) and Olly Alexander and Callum Scott Howells for It’s a Sin. Graham is also nominated for his role in Help.
The BPG Television, Streaming and Audio Awards – for work commissioned or premiered in the UK and screened in 2021 – are prized by programme-makers because they are chosen independently by TV and radio correspondents, critics and previewers. The 48th annual BPG Awards ceremony – attended by the winners, BPG members and guests – will take place at lunchtime on Friday March 25th 2022 at The Brewery in the City of London. It will be supported for the first time by YouTube, the video sharing and social media platform owned by Google.
The Best Writer award will be contested by Jimmy McGovern (Time), Russell T Davies (It’s a Sin), Chris Lang (Unforgotten), Sarah Phelps (A Very British Scandal) and Neil Forsyth for Guilt, screened on BBC Scotland and BBC Two.
Guilt is also nominated for best drama series, alongside It’s a Sin, Landscapers, Line of Duty (BBC One) and The Serpent (BBC One). Help, Time and A Very British Scandal are shortlisted for best drama mini-series (1-3 episodes) along with Stephen (ITV) and Romeo and Juliet (the National Theatre production on Sky Arts).
Alma’s Not Normal on BBC Two is nominated as best comedy, with Sex Education (Netflix), Stath Lets Flats (Channel 4) and Starstruck (BBC Three). Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable (Dave) will compete for the best entertainment award against Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel (BBC One), Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing (BBC Two), Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One) and The Masked Singer (ITV).
Two BBC Two series – Four Hours at the Capitol and Gods of Snooker – are shortlisted for best documentary mini-series against Grenfell: The Untold Story (Channel 4) and The Beatles: Get Back (Disney+).
Two Channel Four shows are acknowledged in the lineup for the BPG Breakthrough Award. The creator of We Are Lady Parts, Nida Manzoor, is up against the ‘Pink Palace’ cast members of It’s a Sin – Omari Douglas, Olly Alexander, Callum Scott Howells, Lydia West and Nathaniel Curtis – and also BBC Three’s Starstruck writer and actor, Rose Matafeo.
Other newcomers are recognised in a new award, the BPG Emerging Creators Award for video creativity on social media platforms. The nominees are Chunkz (YouTube), Francis Bourgeois (TikTok), Lucy Edwards (TikTok), Michael Dappah (YouTube) and Rosie Holt (Twitter).
And three broadcasting initiatives are shortlisted for the BPG Innovation in Broadcasting award: Albert, BAFTA’s sustainable production certificate; Channel 4’s Black to Front project and ongoing inclusion initiatives; and Lights Up, the virtual theatre festival in lockdown (BBC Four).
Further information from Torin Douglas, BPG, 07860 422992
Notes to editors
- The winners will be announced at the 48th BPG Awards lunch on Friday March 25th 2022, at The Brewery in the City of London, sponsored by YouTube. The Harvey Lee Award for outstanding contribution to broadcasting is in the gift of the BPG Executive Committee and will be presented as well.
- The BPG Twitter handle for the Awards is #BPGAwards @BPGPressGuild.
- Launched in 2005, YouTube’s mission is to give everyone a voice and show them the world. We believe that everyone deserves to have a voice, and that the world is a better place when we listen, share and build community through our stories. YouTube is a Google company.
- The BPG Television, Streaming and Audio Awards are presented for work commissioned or premiered in the UK and screened in 2021. Programmes which were first streamed online are nominated and voted for alongside broadcast channel commissions originating in the UK.
- The shortlists for Audio Broadcaster of the Year, UK Podcast of the Year and Radio Programme of the Year will be announced in a week’s time on March 3rd 2022.
- The Broadcasting Press Guild was founded in 1974 and has more than 175 members. They are journalists who specialise in covering television, streaming, radio podcasts and the media, and include critics, previewers, media correspondents and feature writers from national newspapers, broadcasters and leading trade journals and online publishers.
- Past BPG Best Actress winners include Glenda Jackson, 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, Dame Julie Walters, Olivia Colman, Keeley Hawes, Sheridan Smith, Juliet Stevenson and Jodie Comer.
- The BPG Best Actor award has been awarded in previous years to Sir Mark Rylance, Sir Kenneth Branagh, Hugh Grant, 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 Drama Mini Series, 1-3 episodes
A Very British Scandal (BBC One)
Help (C4)
Romeo and Juliet (Sky Arts)
Stephen (ITV)
Time (BBC One)
Best Drama Series, 4+ episodes
Guilt (BBC Scotland)
It’s a Sin (C4)
Landscapers (HBO/Sky)
Line of Duty S6 (BBC One)
The Serpent (BBC One)
Best Documentary Mini Series, 1-3 episodes
Four Hours at the Capitol (BBC Two)
Gods of Snooker (BBC Two)
Grenfell: The Untold Story (C4)
The Beatles: Get Back (Disney+)
Best Documentary Series, 4+ episodes
A Perfect Planet (BBC One)
Blair & Brown: The New Labour Revolution (BBC Two)
Clarkson’s Farm (Prime Video)
Grayson Art Club (C4)
Life in Ten Pictures (BBC Two)
Best Comedy
Alma’s Not Normal (BBC Two)
Sex Education S3 (Netflix)
Stath Lets Flats S3 (C4)
Starstruck (BBC Three)
Best Entertainment
Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable (Dave)
Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel S2 (BBC One)
Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing S4 (BBC Two)
Strictly Come Dancing S19 (BBC One)
The Masked Singer S2 (ITV)
Best Actor
Olly Alexander, It’s a Sin
Sanjeev Bhaskar, Unforgotten
Sean Bean, Time
Stephen Graham, Help, Time
Callum Scott Howells, It’s a Sin
Best Actress
Olivia Colman, Landscapers
Jodie Comer, Help
Claire Foy, A Very British Scandal
Lydia West, It’s a Sin
Best Writer
Russell T Davies, It’s a Sin
Neil Forsyth, Guilt
Chris Lang, Unforgotten
Jimmy McGovern, Time
Sarah Phelps, A Very British Scandal
BPG Innovation in Broadcasting Award
Albert, BAFTA’s sustainable production certificate
Channel 4’s Black to Front project and ongoing inclusion initiatives
Lights Up, virtual theatre festival in lockdown (BBC Four)
BPG Emerging Creators Award
Chunkz (YouTube)
Francis Bourgeois (TikTok)
Lucy Edwards (TikTok)
Michael Dappah (YouTube)
Rosie Holt (Twitter)
BPG Breakthrough Award
Rose Matafeo, writer and actor, Starstruck (BBC Three)
The ‘Pink Palace’ cast members of It’s a Sin (C4)
(Omari Douglas, Olly Alexander, Callum Scott Howells, Lydia West and Nathaniel Curtis)
Nida Manzoor, creator & director, We Are Lady Parts (C4)
