Surprise ending as networks upstaged at Baftas
Series that was screened online sweeps the board at TV award nominations as BBC favourite snubbed
TELEVISION LOVES its surprise endings, and in announcing the nominees for this year’s Baftas, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts pulled off a big one.
The absence of Tom Hiddleston, star of the BBC’s John le Carré adaptation, The
Night Manager, was startling enough for many. But in picking an alternative list, the academy demonstrated that the era of selecting an evening’s viewing solely from the pages of Radio
Times is at an end. The drama stealing the show on this year’s list had bypassed terrestrial and satellite broadcasters alike and gone straight to the internet.
The Crown, Netflix’s epic and expensive series about the Queen’s early reign, was nominated five times, with its leading actress, Claire Foy, and three supporting players gaining recognition. The series is also nominated for eight of Bafta’s TV craft awards for work behind the scenes.
It is the first time the academy has recognised a Netflix series in a home-produced category.
Miss Foy, who was raised partly in Leeds, has already been named best actress at America’s Golden Globe awards and by the Screen Actors Guild. She said the Bafta nomination was “especially meaningful because the show is made in the UK with such a wealth of incredible British talent”.
The Crown’s creator, Peter Morgan, who also wrote the screenplay for the film, The
Damned United, about Brian Clough’s tempestuous spell as manager of Leeds United in the 1970s, added: “I am beyond thrilled for The Crown to have been recognised in a year where so much wonderful work has been achieved in British television.”
Miss Foy faces competition as best actress from Sarah Lancashire, star of BBC’s Yorkshire-set crime drama,
Happy Valley, and from Thirteen’s Jodie Comer and NW’s Nikki Amuka-Bird.
Netflix paid a reported £100m to make The Crown, and Bafta’s chairwoman, Jane Lush, a former BBC executive, acknowledged that increased
I am beyond thrilled for The Crown to have been recognised. Series creator Peter Morgan
investment in drama meant the competition for awards was now “incredibly fierce”.
She said: “The TV landscape is changing. There are even more content providers out there making even more high-quality content, which can only be a good thing.
“Whereas a few years ago people were choosing four out of six contenders for drama series, they’re now probably looking at 10 or even more so it’s become increasingly competitive.”
Benedict Cumberbatch is on Bafta’s list of leading actors, for his role in The Hollow Crown, alongside Robbie Coltrane in
National Treasure, Adeel Akhtar in Murdered By My Father and Babou Ceesay in Damilola, Our Loved Boy.
Strictly Come Dancing is nominated twice, while the former Yorkshire MP Ed Balls’
Gangnam Style dance routine on the show made the list of mustsee TV moments. The Night Manager’s relatively poor showing, with just one nomination for supporting actor Tom Hollander, was what most upset viewers on Twitter, with Duncan Bruce, coordinator at the National Film and Television School, writing: “Bafta clearly not a fan of The Night Manager.” In the soaps category, Yorkshire’s Emmerdale vies with Casualty, Eastenders and Hollyoaks, at the expense of ITV’s Coronation Street, while the final BBC series of The Great British Bake Off is nominated as best feature. The winners will be unveiled in a televised show on May 14.