The historical drama “The Crown,” which chronicles the first years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, led the BAFTA TV Awards nominations for the second year in a row, with three bids including Best Drama Series. SAG and Golden Globe winner Claire Foy reaped a Best Actress nomination for her sensitive portrayal of the young monarch. And Vanessa Kirby contends for her scene-stealing turn as younger sister Princess Margaret. However, Matt Smith was snubbed again for his subdued take on Prince Phillip.
Not surprisingly, this lavishly produced series, which screened on Netflix on both sides of the pond, also reaped seven bids at last month’s nominations for the BAFTA TV craft awards which honor the best behind-the-scenes artists and professionals; these are equivalent to the Creative Arts Awards at the Emmys.
With its 10 episodes, “The Crown” easily crossed the threshold of six installments required to qualify as a drama series at these kudos; the cap is 19, after which a show is deemed to be a continuing drama. The catch-all drama acting categories pit the players in telefilms, miniseries and series against each other.
Also up for three awards at the main awards is another Netflix title, the anthology series “Black Mirror.” One of its installments, “Hang the DJ,” contends for Best Single Drama while its leading man Joe Cole is up for Best Actor. Jimmi Simpson is nominated for his supporting performance in “USS Callister.” The other Single Drama nominees are ” Against the Law,” “King Charles III” and “Murdered for Being Different.”
The BBC police drama “Line of Duty” is up for Best Drama Series, Best Actress (Thandie Newton) and Best Supporting Actor (Adrian Dunbar). Completing the Drama Series category are two more Netflix tities, “Peaky Blinders” and “The End of the F***ing World,” which is written by BAFTA Breakthrough Brit, Charlie Covell.
SEE ‘The Crown’: Should Matt Smith donate bigger salary than Claire Foy to charity? [POLL]
Molly Windsor contends in both the breakthrough race and Best Actress for her performance in the true-life crime drama “Three Girls.” Supporting player Liv Hill also contends and “Three Girls” vies for Best Mini Series, which has two to five segments, against “Howards End” “The Moorside” and “The State.”
The other Breakthrough Brits nominees include writers Daisy May Cooper and Charlie Cooper, who also received a Scripted Comedy nomination for “This Country.” Cooper also contends for Best Comedy Actress.
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Also nominated in the Scripted Comedy category are “Chewing Gum,” “Timewasters” and “Catastrophe,” for which Sharon Horgan also contends. Also nominated for Best Comedy Actress are Anna Maxwell Martin for “Motherland” and Sian Gibson for “Peter Kay’s Car Share.” The Comedy Actor contenders are Rob Brydon (“The Trip to Spain”), Asim Chaudhry (“People Just Do Nothing”) and Toby Jones (Detectorists”) and Samson Kayo (“Famalam”).
Winners of the 2018 BAFTA TV Awards will be revealed in a ceremony at London’s Festival Hall on Sunday, May 13 with one-time “The Great British Bakeoff” presenter Sue Perkins hosting for the second year running. The Craft Awards winners will be announced on Sunday, April 22 at an evening presided over by “Episodes” star Stephen Mangan.
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