Graham Norton, Aisling Bea, Catastrophe and Derry Girls nominated for Baftas

Sharon Horgan and Lisa McGee’s comedies join chatshow host in running for TV awards


Graham Norton, Aisling Bea, Sharon Horgan, Andrew Scott and the writer of Derry Girls are among the Irish actors, entertainers and writers in the running for this year’s television Baftas.

Derry Girls, written and created by Lisa McGee, and Catastrophe, which Horgan wrote, created and starred in with Rob Delaney, are up for the scripted comedy award, while The Graham Norton Show is up for comedy entertainment programme. Graham Norton has also been nominated for best entertainment performance.

Bea has been nominated in the breakthrough-talent category for her writing on This Way Up, her Channel 4 show, which also costarred Horgan.

Scott has been shortlisted for the confessional scene between his character and Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s in the final season of Fleabag; it is joined in the must-see-moment category, which is decided by public vote, by the BBC police drama Line of Duty, which stars Adrian Dunbar.

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This year’s nominees are led by The Crown and Chernobyl. Netflix’s portrayal of the British royal family is up for best drama series. Helena Bonham Carter, who plays Princess Margaret in it, and Josh O’Connor, who plays the young Prince of Wales, have been nominated as supporting actress and supporting actor. But the Oscar-winning Olivia Colman, who plays Queen Elizabeth, has missed out.

Chernobyl, Sky’s unflinching portrayal of the events surrounding the 1986 nuclear disaster, is a heavy hitter in the nominations. It is up for best mini-series, as well as leading actor for Jared Harris and supporting actor for Stellan Skarsgard. Chernobyl is showered with nominations – 11 – in the craft categories, meaning it is the biggest nominee, with 14, for the TV and craft gongs combined.

As well as its confessional scene in the must-see-moment category, Fleabag is up for three of the main TV awards, including scripted comedy. Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Sian Clifford, who played sisters in the show, are both nominated, for best female performance in a comedy programme.

Dominic Cummings’s story, as portrayed in Brexit: The Uncivil War, could win best single drama for Channel 4. It featured Benedict Cumberbatch in the role of the Vote Leave mastermind – before his time as Number 10 adviser – and told the story of the controversial, data-driven political campaign for Brexit.

Glenda Jackson is up for leading actress, for her return to the screen in the BBC One drama Elizabeth Is Missing. She is up for the gong for her role in the drama on a “woman’s struggle with dementia”, 50 years after her first nomination for a Bafta film award. The actress and former MP is up against Jodie Comer in Killing Eve, Samantha Morton in I Am Kirsty and Suranne Jones for Gentleman Jack.

Newsnight’s interview with the Duke of York is in the running for best news coverage.

Leaving Neverland, the explosive documentary that featured interviews with two men who allege the late Michael Jackson routinely abused them as boys, is up for best factual series.

The BBC has 48 TV Bafta nominations, excluding craft, while Channel 4 has 22, ITV has 10, and Netflix and Sky both have eight.

The Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards ceremony will air on Friday, July 31st, on BBC One. The awards will be hosted by Richard Ayoade behind closed doors, and winners will accept their gongs virtually.

TV Baftas: The 2020 nominations in full

Leading actress
Jodie Comer, Killing Eve – BBC One
Glenda Jackson, Elizabeth Is Missing – BBC One
Suranne Jones, Gentleman Jack – BBC One
Samantha Morton, I Am Kirsty – Channel 4

Leading actor
Jared Harris, Chernobyl – Sky Atlantic
Takehiro Hira, Giri/Haji – BBC Two
Callum Turner, The Capture – BBC One
Stephen Graham, The Virtues – Channel 4

Supporting actress
Helena Bonham Carter, The Crown – Netflix
Naomi Ackie, The End of the F***ing World – Channel 4
Helen Behan, The Virtues – Channel 4
Jasmine Jobson, Top Boy – Netflix

Supporting actor
Joe Absolom, A Confession – ITV
Josh O'Connor, The Crown – Netflix
Will Sharpe, Giri/Haji – BBC Two
Stellan Skarsgard, Chernobyl – Sky Atlantic

Female performance in a comedy programme
Sian Clifford, Fleabag – BBC Three
Gbemisola Ikumelo, Famalam – BBC Three
Sarah Kendall, Frayed – Sky One
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fleabag – BBC Three

Male performance in a comedy programme
Guz Khan, Man Like Mobeen – BBC Three
Jamie Demetriou, Stath Lets Flats – Channel 4
Ncuti Gatwa, Sex Education – Netflix
Youssef Kerkour, Home – Channel 4

Breakthrough talent
Aisling Bea (writer), This Way Up – Channel 4
Aneil Karia (director), Pure (episode 3) – Channel 4 and Top Boy (episode 10) – Netflix
Laurie Nunn (writer) Sex Education – Netflix
Sean Buckley (writer) Responsible Child – BBC Two

Drama series
The Crown – Netflix
The End of the F***ing World – Channel 4
Gentleman Jack – BBC One
Giri/Haji – BBC Two

Single drama
Brexit: The Uncivil War – Channel 4
Elizabeth Is Missing – BBC One
The Left Behind – BBC Three
Responsible Child – BBC Two

Mini-series
A Confession – ITV
Chernobyl – Sky Atlantic
The Victim – BBC One
The Virtues – Channel 4

Entertainment performance
Frankie Boyle, Frankie Boyle's New World Order – BBC Two
Mo Gilligan, The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan – Channel 4
Lee Mack, Would I Lie to You – BBC One
Graham Norton, The Graham Norton Show – BBC One

Soap and continuing drama
Casualty – BBC One
Coronation Street – ITV
Emmerdale – ITV
Holby City – BBC One

International
Euphoria – Sky Atlantic
Succession – Sky Atlantic
Unbelievable – Netflix
When They See Us – Netflix

Entertainment programme
The Greatest Dancer – BBC One
The Rap Game UK – BBC Three
Strictly Come Dancing – BBC One
The Voice UK – ITV

Comedy entertainment programme
The Graham Norton Show – BBC One
The Last Leg – Channel 4
The Ranganation – BBC Two
Taskmaster – Dave

Scripted comedy
Catastrophe – Channel 4
Derry Girls – Channel 4
Fleabag – BBC Three
Stath Lets Flats – Channel 4

Reality and constructed factual
Celebrity Gogglebox – Channel 4
Harry's Heroes: The Full English – ITV
Race Across the World – BBC Two
RuPaul's Drag Race UK – BBC Three

Features
Joe Lycett's Got Your Back – Channel 4
The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan – BBC Two
Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing – BBC Two
Snackmasters – Channel 4

Must-see moment (voted for by the public)
Coronation Street, the death of Sinead Osborne – ITV
Fleabag, confessional scene – BBC Three
Game of Thrones, Arya kills the Night King – Sky Atlantic
Gavin and Stacey, Nessa proposes to Smithy – BBC One
Line of Duty, John Corbett's death – BBC One
Love Island, Michael recouples after Casa Amor – ITV2

Current affairs
Growing up Poor: Britain's Breadline Kids (Dispatches) – Channel 4
The Hunt for Jihadi John – Channel 4
Is Labour Anti-Semitic? (Panorama) – BBC One
Undercover: Inside China's Digital Gulag (Exposure) – ITV

Single documentary
The Abused – Channel 5
David Harewood: Psychosis and Me – BBC Two
The Family Secret – Channel 4
The Last Survivors – BBC Two

Factual series
Crime and Punishment – Channel 4
Don't F*** with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer – Netflix
Leaving Neverland – Channel 4
Our Dementia Choir with Vicky McClure – BBC One

Specialist factual
8 Days: To the Moon and Back – BBC Two
Seven Worlds, One Planet – BBC One
Thatcher: A Very British Revolution – BBC Two
Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story – BBC Four

News coverage
Hong Kong Protests – Sky News
ITV News at 10: Election Results – ITN/ITV
Prince Andrew and the Epstein Scandal (Newsnight) – BBC News/BBC Two
Victoria Derbyshire: Men Who Lost Loved Ones to Knife Crime – BBC News/BBC Two

Sport
2019 Rugby World Cup Final: England v South Africa – ITV
ICC Cricket World Cup Final – Sky Sports Cricket
Fifa Women's World Cup 2019 Semi Final: England v USA – BBC One
Wimbledon 2019 Men's Final – BBC One

Live event
Blue Planet Live – BBC One
Election 2019 Live: The Results – ITN/ITV
Glastonbury 2019 – BBC Two
Operation Live – Channel 5

Short-form programme
Anywhere But Westminster – The Guardian
Brain in Gear – BBC iPlayer
Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle – BBC Four
Toni_with_an_I (Born Digital: First Cuts) – BBC Four

– PA