Irish eye BAFTA gongs
IRISH stars Roisin Gallagher, Eanna Hardwicke, Sharon Horgan, Graham Norton and Mairead Tyers are leading the nominations for this year’s BAFTA Television Awards in the UK.
Belfast native Roisin is nominated in the Female Performance in a Comedy category for The Lovers.
Mairead, 26, is also nominated in the same category for her Disney+ series Extraordinary, and one of the hit show’s writers, Emma Moran, is nominated for her work as part of the writing team.
Eanna, 27, is nominated in the Supporting Actor category for his performance in the BBC true crime series The Sixth Commandment.
He will be up against Matthew Macfadyen for his performance as Tom Wambsgans in the final series of Succession, alongside Amit Shah for Happy Valley, Harris Dickinson for A Murder At The End Of The World, Jack Lowden for Slow Horses, and Salim Daw for The Crown.
Horgan, 53, is shortlisted in the Leading Actress category for her performance in the BBC drama
Best Interests, which also starred Irish newcomer Niamh Moriarty.
Helena Bonham Carter is also nominated in the leading actress category for her role in ITVX’S Nolly, which saw her playing Crossroads star Noele Gordon, known to her friends as Nolly, in the Russell T Davies drama about the rise and fall of the actress.
And The Graham Norton Show is shortlisted in the Comedy Entertainment category and Norton, 60, is nominated for Entertainment Performance.
Meanwhile, the final series of Netflix’s royal drama The Crown leads the way at the awards with eight nominations.
Among the nominations for the sixth series, which was released in two parts last year, are a leading actor nomination for Dominic West who played
Charles, then the Prince of
Wales, and a supporting actor nomination for Daw, for his role as Mohamed Al-fayed, the father of Diana, Princess of Wales’ partner, Dodi Fayed.
The series has also scored two nominations in the supporting actress category, with Elizabeth Debicki nominated for her role as Diana and Lesley Manville for her role as Princess Margaret.
Other actresses nominated in the supporting category include Harriet
Walter for Succession, Jasmine Jobson for Top Boy, Nico Parker for HBO/SKY Atlantic’s The Last Of Us and Siobhan Finneran for Sally Wainwright’s BBC drama series Happy Valley.
Black Mirror’s Demon 79, one of five episodes in the sixth series of Charlie Brooker’s dark, satirical series, has seven nominations across the television awards and television craft categories.
Set in northern England in 1979, the episode features a meek sales assistant who is told she must commit terrible acts to prevent disaster.
BAFTA chairwoman Sara Putt said: “Water cooler TV moments, brave documentaries which expand our world view, and powerful reallife inspired dramas – these are just some of the Bafta-nominated TV programmes for audiences to watch.
“I’m delighted to see so many first-time nominees, so much new and emerging talent and so many debut projects recognised today.
“At a time when budgets are tight and creative risk-taking can feel ever riskier, we hope our awards can play a positive role in reinforcing the value of nurturing new talent and ideas, as well as holding a mirror up to stubborn industry inequities, particularly for talented female directors who are still significantly outnumbered by their male counterparts when it comes to awards submissions.”
Actress Anjana
Vasan, also known for Channel 4’s We Are Lady Parts, is nominated in the leading actress category for her role in Demon 79 as sales assistant Nida.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 and documentary series Once Upon A Time In Northern Ireland have each received four nominations.
The telly and craft awards take place at starstudded ceremonies on April 28 (craft categories) and May 12 at London’s Royal Festival Hall.