BAFTA TV Noms 2018 - What I'd like to see

Well well well, this year’s BAFTA TV nominations have been revealed and they are a most curious bunch!

6 nominations for Netflix by my reckoning, a whopping 10 for BBC Three and plenty for Channel 4 too.

Here’s a rundown of the winners I think we’ll see (although, just in case I get all of my predictions wrong and come out of this looking like a fool, I’d like to take this opportunity to say that these awards are notoriously unpredictable), along with some of the names I think should have been in with a chance.

Leading Actress

 
Nominees:

Thandie Newton - Line of Duty

Sinead Keenan - Little Boy Blue

Molly Windsor - Three Girls

Claire Foy - The Crown

If Claire Foy hadn’t been on this list I’d have started a very small riot, but happily she’s been given the nod. She's arguably the favourite to win this award, after losing out to Happy Valley's Sarah Lancashire Last year. It took Lancashire two attempts to win and when she did, she used her acceptance speech to thank Foy for giving her "the best 10 hours under a duvet she's ever had". High praise indeed! Lancashire's performance was superlative, but if any other has come close to matching it in the last few years, it's Foy's turn as the young Queen and, having already collected a Golden Globe and a Screen Actor's Guild Award, it feels right that Foy should be honoured by the British Academy as she departs the role. 
Thandie Newton also deserves praise for her absolutely captivating performance as DCI Roz Huntley in Line of Duty - a talented police officer determined to convict a dangerous man, who suddenly found herself under suspicion. Newton kept Huntley's morality teetering on a knife edge for six episodes before finally revealing her true colours in what was probably the most tense Line of Duty interview scene so far. So, could she usurp Foy to take this award? Possibly, but bear in mind that Keeley Hawes was nominated for her role as an AC-12 suspect in Line of Duty in 2015 (the same year that Sarah Lancashire lost out) and she failed to pick up the statue, so history is not in Newton’s favour. If anyone’s going to take this award away from Foy, Sinead Keenan could be the one to do it. Her harrowing portrayal of murdered schoolboy Rhys Jones’ mother Melanie in Little Boy Blue has already won her an RTS award and a host of other nominations. And we shouldn't discount newcomer Molly Windsor who played a fourteen year old victim of the Rochdale child sex abuse ring in Three Girls. The BAFTA academy have form for rewarding new talent who have taken on challenging real-life roles - it was, after all, Georgina Campbell that beat both Keeley Hawes and Sarah Lancashire to the award in 2015, with her performance in BBC Three's Murdered by my Boyfriend. Foy might seem like a shoe-in, but really, anything could happen.

Leading Actor

Nominees:

Jack Rowan - Born to Kill

Joe Cole - Black Mirror 'Hang the DJ'

Sean Bean - Broken

Tim Pigott-Smith - King Charles III

A shameful admission – despite cramming my poor, overworked eyeballs with more TV last year than ever before, I only managed to catch one of these performances. I would have seen Joe Cole’s turn in Black Mirror’s ‘Hang the DJ’ if previous episode ‘Crocodile’ hadn’t freaked me out so much that I decided to stop watching there and then - no offence to Charlie Brooker, the show's a masterpiece, it's just that when the real world is this dystopian, Black Mirror feels too much like a documentary.

I can’t pretend to know which way this award’s going to go, but I do know that the late Tim Piggot-Smith gave a powerful performance in King Charles III, as the new monarch, frustrated by his lack of power and later, betrayed by his family. If Piggot-Smith does win, it would be a fitting tribute and a posthumous acknowledgement of his impressive body of work. If I were to throw my own nomination into the ring here, I'd opt for Bertie Carvel, who starred in King Charles III writer Mike Bartlett's second drama of the year, Doctor Foster. Carvel was impressive in the first series but spent most of it in the shadow of the superb Suranne Jones - this time around he was given a lot more to do; seemingly having lost every shred of humanity in the two years since we last saw him, he was on truly evil form, taunting his ex-wife with his perfect new life and using their son as a pawn. By the end of the series, the vengeful Gemma had regained the upper hand and Simon's sanity had started to unravel. The script veered into shaky territory in the final few episodes and Carvel's character (among others) got a little lost which may be the reason that the show's been overlooked by BAFTA this year, but his performance was mesmerizing throughout.

Supporting Actress

Nominees:

Anna Friel - Broken

Julie Hesmondhalgh - Broadchurch

Liv Hill - Three Girls

Vanessa Kirby - The Crown

I'm torn on this one - Julie Hesmondhalgh gave a gut-wrenching performance as sexual assault survivor Trish in Broadchurch, but Vanessa Kirby has shone as Princess Margaret in The Crown.
Hesmonhalgh clearly did her research before taking on her challenging role and her performance really moved me. She was at pains to portray Trish as someone who had suffered trauma but was not defined by it and she did that by giving every facet of Trish's character the same depth of feeling, whether she was arguing with her friends, trying to stay strong for her daughter or bravely helping the police to catch her attacker.
     Kirby is hypnotising as Princess Margaret. Amidst all the pomp and ceremony, the politics and responsibility, Margaret's storylines always felt more human somehow and much of that was down to Kirby's total command of her character. With those impossibly expressive eyes she made a spoilt, attention-hungry princess seem totally vulnerable - Kirby's scene-stealing high point this series was arguably Margaret's lowest as she drunkenly smashed around her apartment, distraught at yet another heartbreak. And who can forget the smiling princess, waving to the jubilant crowds as she made her way to her "fairytale" wedding? Rarely have I felt more sorry for anyone.
    

Supporting Actor

Nominees:

Adrian Dunbar - Line of Duty

Anupam Kher - The Boy with the Topknot

Brian F. O'Byrne - Little Boy Blue

Jimmi Simpson - Black Mirror 'USS Callister'

After four series as Superintendent Ted Hastings, the don of AC-12, Adrian Dunbar has finally been given the recognition he deserves. Not before time! Dunbar's nonchalance and naturalism makes his performance so authentic that it’s hard to believe he didn't sidle into acting as a career change after a stint in the force. Though Martin Compston and Vicky McClure are the younger cops who get to do most of the cool undercover work, Dunbar manages to make all the red tape and office politics back at HQ unbelievably watchable and as for the show's trademark interview scenes ... well he owns them, fella! Thank God that all the shady police suspects "have the right to be interviewed by a police officer at least one rank senior" because it means Ted gets to be in the room and we inevitably get to witness the souring of his cool professionalism as the bent coppers try to wriggle out of their crimes. Don't go thinking our Ted's all talk and no action though - the series four finale saw him take out a masked killer at close range, but also left us with the unnerving feeling that he might be hiding something - say it ain't so, fella, say it ain't so!

Jimmi Simpson, was great in Black Mirror - I'm sure the other two nominees also gave stellar performances, but for me, this one's got Dunbar written all over it!

Drama Series

Nominees:

The Crown

The End of the F***ing World

Line of Duty

Peaky Blinders

Well what a coup for The End of the F***ing World – the Channel 4/Netflix dramedy about a pair of troubled young runaways. Its 23 year old star Alex Lawther is a prodigious talent, turning in brilliant performances in The Imitation Game, Black Mirror and Howard’s End and his co-star Jessica Barden also proved herself to be another name to watch. This show might be the dark horse in this category.

Or could this be the year that the British Award shows finally start recognising Peaky Blinders? I have to say, I've never got more than four episodes in, but with every new series and fresh wave of acclaim I'm tempted to finally get on board for good. The viewership has been building heavily since its first few series - has it finally caught the imagination of the BAFTA jury?

If I was putting my own list of nominees together, The Crown and Line of Duty would both be on it. Although interestingly, I don’t think either of them had their best series last year. The Crown is a huge achievement in British television making – its vast budget helps, sure, but it’s its taught, atmospheric scripts, packed full of significance that are the real jewel in its ... monarch's hat.
With Line of Duty – writer Jed Mercurio has found a formula for a show that can be brought back again and again without losing any of its suspense or shock value. In a scary new world where watch-on-demand is becoming the go-to way to watch TV, Line of Duty is appointment viewing - ripe for speculation and packed full of didn't-see-it-coming, "no-spoilers-please" moments.
It's about time Line of Duty gets the recognition it's due, but it seems wrong if the British Academy don't honour the end of The Crown's groundbreaking first era - it's too close to call.

Other mentions ...

I'm very happy to see Howard’s End on the list for best mini-series, it was certainly up there with the best costume dramas of last year but I would have liked to have seen Heidi Thomas' tear-jerking and life affirming adaptation of Little Women up for this award too.

I'm delighted that BBC Three's sublime mockumentary This Country is up for Best Scripted Comedy. I'm on my third watch of the second series - I can't get enough of its hilariously misguided characters and genius non-storylines. The series finale was heartbreaking too. Writer and star Daisy Cooper has also deservedly been given a nod in the Comedy Performance category.

In notable snubs, Daisy's brother Charlie Cooper who plays her on screen cousin Kurtan has inexplicably been left off the list and Paul Abbot's brilliant No Offence is sorely lacking in nominations. I'd also have liked to have seen the final series of W1A in the best comedy category.