Irish actors Lola Petticrew and Nicola Coughlan have been nominated for their first Bafta TV awards, while Belfast-set Blue Lights is among the nominations for best drama series at this year’s ceremony.
Graham Norton will also compete for the best entertainment performance Bafta at the 2025 awards, it was announced on Thursday. It is Norton’s 18th Bafta nomination, while he has won eight of his previous 17.
Petticrew has been recognised in the leading actress category for her role as Dolours Price in the Disney/FX Productions series Say Nothing, with the series itself nominated for the international Bafta award.
Coughlan has been nominated for best female performance in a comedy for her role in Channel 4’s depression-themed Big Mood.
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Blue Lights, a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) drama written by Irish duo Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, has been a hit for the BBC, with two seasons having aired to date and two more already commissioned.
Derry production company Alleycats TV has been nominated in the daytime category for Clive Myrie’s Caribbean Adventure.
Baby Reindeer, Richard Gadd’s groundbreaking semi-autobiographical saga about his years of abuse and being stalked, received the most nominations.
The Netflix drama – which claimed to be a true story, prompting the woman who allegedly inspired the stalker character to sue for defamation – leads the pack with eight nominations, including a leading actor nod for Gadd as the traumatised comic Donny Dunn. Jessica Gunning, who plays the stalker lawyer Martha, goes head to head with Nava Mau, who plays Donny’s partner, Teri, for the supporting actress gong.
Baby Reindeer is also up for best limited drama, alongside the Netflix romcom One Day, the BBC’s Lost Boys and Fairies, and ITV’s political powerhouse Mr Bates vs the Post Office.
Coming in with six nominations apiece are Mr Bates vs the Post Office, the drama about the post office operator scandal that led to legal reform; the Disney+ high-camp Rivals; and Slow Horses, the Apple TV+ drama about the shambolic spies of Slough House.
The Slow Horses star Gary Oldman, who plays inimitable grouch Jackson Lamb, is up for the leading actor award alongside Gadd. Joining them are David Tennant, for his turn as the regional TV kingpin Tony Baddingham in Rivals; Lennie James as Barry Walker in Mr Loverman; and Toby Jones as the titular Mr Bates.
Up for leading actress are Monica Dolan, for her role as Jo Hamilton in Mr Bates; Sharon D Clarke as Barry’s wife Carmel in Mr Loverman; Marisa Abela as rich-kid investment banker Yasmin in Industry; Billie Piper for the Prince Andrew Newsnight film Scoop; and Anna Maxwell Martin for the serial killer survivor drama Until I Kill You; as well as Petticrew in Say Nothing.
Say Nothing also received nominations for Maxine Peake, for supporting actress in her role as the older Dolours, plus best international show.
Say Nothing joins Shōgun, the feudal Japanese samurai epic, in the running in this category, along with the Jodie-Foster-fronted True Detective: Night Country, provocative New Zealand hit After the Party, hit Australian comedy Colin from Accounts and Netflix’s You Are Not Alone: Fighting the Wolfpack.
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, the concluding part of Hilary Mantel’s Tudor epic, received only two nominations – for best drama and best supporting actor for Damian Lewis as Henry VIII.
Also in contention for best drama alongside Wolf Hall and Blue Lights is the second series of James Graham’s acclaimed drama Sherwood, set in Nottingham, and the superhero show Supacell, set in Peckham, south London.
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Sophie Willan’s Alma’s Not Normal is up for two awards. The comedy, inspired by Willan’s experiences, swept the Royal Television Awards earlier this week and has already won two Baftas, including the 2022 gong for best comedy writing. Willan is nominated for best female performance in a comedy and is up against G’Wed, Brassic and David Mitchell’s twin-swap crime show Ludwig for the best scripted comedy award.
Of the 44 nominees in the performance categories, 21 have received their first Bafta nominations, including Petticrew and Coughlan; Gadd, Gunning and Mau for Baby Reindeer; Jonathan Pryce as the former head of MI5 now living with dementia in Slow Horses; Abela for season three of Industry, Nabhaan Rizwan as the god of pleasure, Dionysus, in Netflix drama Kaos; plus Stacey Solomon for her home clean-up show Sort Your Life Out.
Six moments are up for the previously revealed category of memorable moments of the year, the only Bafta award decided by the public: Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell dancing to You’ll Never Walk Alone on Strictly Come Dancing; Diane in The Traitors revealing that Ross is her son; Colin (Luke Newton) and Penelope (Coughlan) finally admitting their feelings for each other in Bridgerton; Jo Hamilton (Dolan) phoning the horrifying Horizon hotline on Mr Bates; Smithy (James Corden) asking if he should jilt his partner at the altar in the Gavin and Stacey finale; and the naked tennis scene in Rivals.
The 2025 TV Craft awards will take place on April 27th, with the 2025 TV Bafta awards to follow on May 11th at Royal Festival Hall in London; they will be broadcast on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The Scottish actor and presenter of The Traitors US, Alan Cumming, will host the ceremony for the first time. – with Guardian
