Three of TV’s most popular actresses – Sheridan Smith, Keeley Hawes and Sarah Lancashire – have been shortlisted for the annual Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, chosen by journalists who write about TV and radio. The awards, sponsored by Discovery Channel, will be presented next month at a lunch in central London.
Smith is nominated for her performance as the young Cilla Black in Cilla and for The Widower. Hawes is recognised for Line of Duty and Lancashire for her roles in Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax.
Cilla (ITV), Happy Valley (BBC One) and Line of Duty (BBC Two) have also been shortlisted for best drama series, together with The Honourable Woman (BBC Two).
In the best actor category, David Threlfall is shortlisted for Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This, alongside James Nesbitt (The Missing and Babylon) and Toby Jones (Marvellous and Detectorists).
Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This (ITV) and Marvellous (BBC Two) have been shortlisted for best single drama, alongside A Poet In New York (BBC Two) and Murdered By My Boyfriend (BBC Three).
The writer’s award will be a tussle between Hugo Blick (The Honourable Woman), Jed Mercurio (Line of Duty), Mackenzie Crook (Detectorists) and Sally Wainwright (Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax).
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 41st annual awards lunch, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Friday March 13th 2015, will be attended by the winners, BPG members and leading broadcasting executives.
Channel 4 screened three of the four nominees for best documentary series – Benefits Street, 24 Hours in Police Custody and Grayson Perry: Who Are You? They are up against ITV’s Broadmoor. In the best single documentary category, BBC One’s Baby P: The Untold Story and Panorama: Fake Sheikh Exposed, will compete with BBC Two’s Dave Allen: God’s Own Comedian.
BBC Two has four of the five nominees for best comedy/entertainment: Harry & Paul’s Story of the Twos, Rev, The Trip to Italy and W1A. They’re up against BBC Four’s Detectorists.
BBC Two’s Great British Bake Off will compete for the best factual entertainment award with three Channel 4 series, Gogglebox, Speed with Guy Martin and The Undateables.
The Multichannel Award will be contested by the Discovery Channel’s Ebola Exposed and three shows from Dave – Crackanory, Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled and Dave Gorman: Modern Life is Goodish.
The annual BPG award for innovation in broadcasting will this year recognise the growing importance of programmes commissioned for first showing online, rather than on traditional broadcast channels. Shortlisted are BBC iPlayer’s Original Drama and Comedy Shorts; Ripper Street, which was re-commissioned by Amazon Instant Video after the BBC dropped it; and Vice News for its UK-commissioned films, including The Islamic State.
The Breakthrough Award – for people or organisations who attained a new level of success in 2014 – will be contested by Harry and Jack Williams, the writers of the peak time BBC One drama The Missing, and two actors – James Norton (Happy Valley and Grantchester) and Maddy Hill (EastEnders).
Further information from Torin Douglas, BPG: torindouglas@aol.com or 07860 422992.
Notes to editors:
1. The winners will be announced at the 41st BPG Awards lunch in the beautifully restored Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Friday March 13th 2015, sponsored by Discovery Channel. 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.
2. The shortlists for Radio Broadcaster of the Year and Radio Programme of the Year will be announced in a week’s time.
3. 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.
4. BPG Best Actress winners during the Guild’s 40 years 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 and Juliet Stevenson.
5. The BPG Best Actor award has been awarded to Kenneth Branagh, Colin Firth, Sir Alec Guinness, Albert Finney, Charles Dance, Robert Hardy, Jim Broadbent, Christopher Ecclestone, Benedict Cumberbatch and Dominic West among others (see more details and photos at http://www.broadcastingpressguild.org/.)
The full list of BPG TV nominations 2015 is:
Best Single Drama
A Poet in New York (BBC Two)
Marvellous (BBC Two)
Murdered By My Boyfriend (BBC Three)
Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This (ITV)
Best Drama Series
Cilla (ITV)
Happy Valley (BBC One)
Line of Duty (BBC Two)
The Honourable Woman (BBC Two)
Best Single Documentary
Baby P: The Untold Story (BBC One)
Dave Allen: God’s Own Comedian (BBC Two)
Panorama: The Fake Sheikh Exposed (BBC One)
Best Documentary Series
24 Hours in Police Custody (C4)
Benefits Street (C4)
Broadmoor (ITV)
Grayson Perry: Who Are You? (C4)
Best Comedy/ Entertainment
Detectorists (BBC Four)
Harry And Paul’s Story Of The Twos (BBC Two)
Rev (BBC Two)
The Trip to Italy (BBC Two)
W1A (BBC Two)
Best Multichannel Programme
Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled (Dave)
Crackanory (Dave)
Dave Gorman: Modern Life is Goodish (Dave)
Ebola Exposed (Discovery Channel)
Best Factual Entertainment
Gogglebox (C4)
The Great British Bake Off (BBC One)
Speed with Guy Martin (C4)
The Undateables (C4)
Best Actor
David Threlfall (Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This)
James Nesbitt (The Missing/Babylon)
Toby Jones (Marvellous/Detectorists)
Best Actress
Keeley Hawes (Line of Duty)
Sarah Lancashire (Happy Valley/Last Tango)
Sheridan Smith (Cilla/The Widower)
Best Writer
Hugo Blick (The Honourable Woman)
Jed Mercurio (Line of Duty)
Mackenzie Crook (Detectorists)
Sally Wainwright (Happy Valley/Last Tango in Halifax)
Innovation in Broadcasting – Online First Award
Original Drama & Comedy Shorts for BBC iPlayer
Ripper Street for Amazon Instant Video (Tiger Aspect/Lookout Point TV)
Vice News (The Islamic State & other UK commissions)
Breakthrough Award
Harry and Jack Williams, writers, The Missing (BBC One)
James Norton (Happy Valley/Grantchester)
Maddy Hill (EastEnders)
Further information from Torin Douglas, BPG: torindouglas@aol.com or 07860 422992
