It’s Netf lix versus the Beeb in Battle of the Baftas
Claire Foy and Thandie fight for crown
Accused of being a ‘stitch-up’
IT was royally snubbed last year when The Crown lost out on all its nominations to the BBC.
But Netflix could be set to clean up in this year’s TV Baftas after it received an impressive six nominations.
Two of the US online streaming giant’s shows – The Crown and sci-fi series Black Mirror – are up for three gongs each.
They are the most nominated programmes along with BBC One shows Line of Duty and Three Girls, a drama based on the Rochdale grooming scandal.
The Crown’s Claire Foy has received a leading actress nomination for the third year in a row and will face Line of Duty’s Thandie Newton.
Also nominated in the coveted category is Molly Windsor, who played an abused child in Three Girls, and Sinead Keenan in Little Boy Blue. Vanessa Kirby is again in the running for best sup- porting actress for her portrayal of Princess Margaret after she was beaten by Wunmi Mosaku, who played Gloria Taylor in Damilola, Our Loved Boy, last year.
But Matt Smith, who plays Prince Philip in the £100million drama, has not received a nomination for the second year running.
Line of Duty and The Crown will fight it out to be named best drama series at the ceremony on May 13. They are up against BBC Two’s Peaky Blinders and The End of the F******* World, a Channel 4 series.
Black Mirror’s Joe Cole is nominated for leading actor alongside the late Tim Pigott-Smith who played King Charles III in the BBC Two show.
Black Mirror and King Charles III are also nominated for single drama and Black Mirror star Jimmi Simpson is up for supporting actor against Line of Duty’s Adrian Dunbar.
Last year BBC One’s Happy Valley pipped The Crown in the best drama category, winning the award for the second time. And despite picking up a Golden Globe last year for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II, Miss Foy was beaten by Sarah Lancashire in the gritty crime series.
Miss Foy, 33, also received a best actress nod in 2016 for her role in BBC drama Wolf Hall, though the category was won by Suranne Jones for Doctor Foster.
Last year Netflix received six nominations – five for The Crown and one for Stranger Things – but ended up missing out on all of them.
The Bafta TV awards were accused of being a ‘stitch-up’ judged by BBC loyalists. But Bafta maintained it ‘has no loyalty to, or interests in, any particular programme or broadcaster’.
Meanwhile, Strictly Come Dancing has been snubbed despite drawing an average of 10million viewers last year. The BBC One show has received at least one nomination for ten out of a possible 13 years since it was launched.
Channel 4’s Great British Bake Off, which drew 7.3million viewers for last season’s final, was another notable Baftas absentee.