TV’S TOP STARS? We’ll be the judge of that!
THE NATIONAL TELEVISION AWARDS 2022 Thursday, ITV, 8pm
It’s the awards show where the stars have no hiding place. Other dazzling ceremonies that honour the elite who light up the small screen are decided by judges and fellow professionals, who may be swayed by personal and political considerations.
But when it comes to the National Television Awards, the only thing that counts is what the viewers think. For it’s the public and the public vote alone that will decide who emerges triumphant as a galaxy of celebrities flocks to Wembley Arena for the most glittering night of the year in the television industry, hosted by The Masked Singer’s Joel Dommett. Some of Britain’s best-known faces will be battling it out, not least in the Best Drama Performance category, where Cillian Murphy – in his farewell performance as the iconic Tommy Shelby in the final season of Peaky Blinders – is up against not only an all-action Vicky McClure in the ITV police thriller Trigger Point, but also the much-loved Nicola Walker for The Split. Meanwhile, Bridgerton’s many fans will no doubt be voting in droves for Jonathan Bailey, who plays the swooningly dashing viscount Anthony.
The stars who host TV shows are fighting it out too, with Ant & Dec (up for their 21st win in a row), game-show host Bradley Walsh, chat-show supremo Graham Norton and This Morning’s
Alison Hammond all up for best TV Presenter.
There’s an extraordinary range of Factual Entertainment shows that have been nominated. While The Great British Bake Off has a huge following, let’s not forget Paul O’Grady: For The Love Of Dogs and Clarkson’s Farm on Amazon Prime, which has won the former Top Gear presenter a new set of fans enthralled by his rural antics.
Clarkson’s farming sidekick, Kaleb Cooper, is nominated for an award in the Expert category, along with The Repair Shop’s
Jay Blades, now almost as much a national treasure as his fellow nominee Sir David Attenborough.
For once, the tables are turned on the talent-show panellists, who must now wait to see how the public will vote before one is chosen as best Talent Show
Judge. But will it be Strictly’s Anton Du Beke, David Walliams on Britain’s Got Talent, The Masked Dancer’s Mo Gilligan or RuPaul of Drag Race fame?
Look out, too, for affecting human stories of the stars in the Authored Documentary category, which includes Julia Bradbury’s powerful revelations on her battle with breast cancer and the moving film from Kate Garraway about her husband Derek Draper’s desperate struggle to recover from his near-death experience of Covid.