‘The Crown’ leads BAFTA television award nominations‘
LONDON: Netf lix drama ‘ The Crown’ has received royal approval from BAFTA voters as it led nominations for the 2017 BAFTA British Academy Television Awards.
The nominations were announced by ‘Chewing Gum’ actress Michaela Coel and ‘ Broadchurch’ actor Andrew Buchan at BAFTA’s London headquarters.
‘ The Crown’ scored five nominations including for best drama series; best leading actress for Claire Foy, who played the young Queen Elizabeth II; supporting actress for Vanessa Kirby, who played Princess Margaret; and supporting actor nods for both John Lithgow and Jared Harris, who played Winston Churchill and King George VI, respectively. It was Foy’s second consecutive lead actress BAFTA nomination, following last year’s ‘ Wolf Hall’, where she missed out to Suranne Jones in ‘ Doctor Foster’.
The show’s lead actor, Matt Smith, missed out in the lead actor category which saw nominations for Benedict Cumberbatch in ‘ The Hollow Crown: The War of the Roses’, Adeel Akhtar in ‘Murdered by My Father’, Babou Ceesay in ‘ Damilola, Our Loved Boy’ and Robbie Coltrane in ‘ National Treasure’. His role as Richard III in ‘The Hollow Crown’ marked Cumberbatch’s six TV BAFTA nomination. He has also been nominated for a BAFTA film award.
It was a good result for Netflix which also sees its cult hit ‘Stranger Things’ named in the international category, the one category which focuses on non-UK productions. ‘ Stranger Things’ will compete against HBO’s ‘ The Night Of’, FX’s ‘ The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story’ and Amazon’s ‘Transparent’.
The biggest surprise was an almost complete shut- out for the BBC’s ‘The Night Manager’, which scored six craft nominations when they were announced on Mar 28. The show’s only nomination came for Tom Hollander, who will also compete in the supporting actor category. Daniel Mays fills out that category for ‘ Line of Duty’.
Also scoring just a single nomination was the BBC’s acclaimed adaptation of ‘War and Peace’. It will contest the best drama series category against ‘The Crown’, ITV and Masterpiece’s ‘ The Durrells’ and the BBC’s ‘Happy Valley’.
BAFTA favorite Olivia Colman missed out on a nomination for ‘ The Night Manager’ but was nominated for best female performance in a comedy show for ‘ Fleabag’. It was Colman’s sixth nomination in six years.