Popular dramas Happy Valley, Line of Duty and Cilla are to go head-to-head in both the best actress and best drama series categories at this year’s Broadcasting Press Guild awards.
The stars of the shows – Sarah Lancashire, Sheridan Smith and Keeley Hawes – have all been nominated for best actress, while Lancashire is also shortlisted for her role in BBC1’s Last Tango in Halifax.
BBC1 police series Happy Valley, ITV’s Cilla Black biopic and BBC2’s tense thriller Line of Duty are shortlisted for the top drama gong, along with BBC2’s The Honourable Woman, at the annual poll of journalists who write about television and radio.
The best actor category sees The Missing’s James Nesbitt pitched against David Threlfall for ITV’s Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This and Toby Jones, the star of BBC2’s Peter Bowker drama Marvellous and BBC4 metal-detecting comedy Detectorists.
Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This and Marvellous have also been given the nod for best single drama, along with BBC2’s Dylan Thomas epic A Poet in New York and BBC3’s Murdered By My Boyfriends.
Acclaimed BBC1 drama The Missing also features in the breakthrough award category, for its writers Jack and Harry Williams. Also nominated are actor James Norton for ITV’s Grantchester and Happy Valley and Maddy Hill, who plays Nancy Carter in EastEnders.
Meanwhile, The Great British Bake Off will vie with Channel 4’s Gogglebox and its channel stablemates The Undateables and Speed with Guy Martin for the title of best factual entertainment programme.
Channel 4 also has three contenders in the best documentary series category – Benefits Street, Grayson Perry: Who Are You and 24 Hours in Police Custody - which will compete with ITV’s Broadmoor for the prize.
Vice News is nominated for The Islamic State in the innovation in broadcasting - online first award, as is Amazon Instant Video’s Ripper Street and BBC iPlayer’s original drama and comedy shorts.
The awards, sponsored by Discovery, will be presented at a lunch on 13 March in London.
