Bafta have announced the nominations for their television awards, recognising the best in British TV during 2014 – and have championed a slate of relentlessly grim but powerful crime thrillers.
The leading actress prize is perhaps this year’s strongest category, with Sheridan Smith in Cilla facing down a trio of embattled crime heroines: Georgina Campbell in BBC3’s sleeper hit Murdered By My Boyfriend, Sarah Lancashire in Happy Valley and Keeley Hawes in Line of Duty.
The latter two shows were joint top of the nominations with three each, with another similarly hardboiled crime drama, The Missing, also netting a trio of nods. Murdered By My Boyfriend was also recognised in the single drama category, where it faces competition from Dylan Thomas biopic A Poet in New York, Jimmy McGovern’s Common, and Marvellous, the drama about the inspirational Neil Baldwin, which also scored three nominations.
Benedict Cumberbatch is the biggest name in a similarly strong leading actor field, for his socially awkward Sherlock. He’s joined by Toby Jones for Marvellous, James Nesbitt for The Missing, and Jason Watkins, for his eerily accurate portrayal in The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies.
Ant and Dec scored a brace of nominations for their cheesy and raucous Saturday Night Takeaway, as did Graham Norton, whose talk show was recognised in both comedy and entertainment categories. The US imports nominated in the international category were True Detective, The Good Wife, House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, the latter pair continuing Netflix’s success at major awards shows.
Olivia Colman is nominated for the fourth year in a row, this time for her stoically cheerful reverend’s wife in BBC sitcom Rev, following her leading actress award last year for Broadchurch.
Wolf Hall, one of the most critically acclaimed and talked-about dramas of recent years, might appear notable by its absence, but it falls outside Bafta’s remit for the 2015 awards – only shows screened during 2014 are eligible.
