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Nominations Announced for Television Awards in 2008

18 March 2008
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The nominations were announced today for the British Academy Television Awards supported by Sky+, which will be held at the London Palladium on Sunday April 20 and hosted by Graham Norton. The Awards will be broadcast on BBC One.

Judi Dench receives record 24th BAFTA nomination (i)

Paul Merton receives his 11th nomination but not for HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU

CRANFORD garners the most nominations with three

BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT and STRICTLY COME DANCING in face-off

First BAFTA nominations for Simon Amstell, Alexander Armstrong, Heston Blumenthal Russell Brand, James Corden, Alan Carr, Justin Lee Collins & Ben Miller

THE BILL & HOLBY CITY nominated in Continuing Drama against EMMERDALE and EASTENDERS

In the Actress category Judi Dench receives her 12th BAFTA television nomination for her role in , alongside her screen sister Eileen Atkins whose last BAFTA TV nomination was back in 1969. They are joined by first-time nominee Kierston Wareing for , and previous winner Gina McKee who receives her third nomination, this time for her role in . receives the most nominations with three, and is also nominated for the Sky+ Audience Award, the only award within the ceremony voted-for by the public.

Four first-time nominees make up the Actor category; Andrew Garfield for , Tom Hardy for , Matthew Macfadyen for while Antony Sher receives his first nomination, after a career spanning some thirty years, for .

Following his ten previous nominations for , Paul Merton picks up his 11th in the Factual Series category for , (one of two nominations for Five this year). Fellow nominees in this category are , and .

In the Entertainment Programme(1) category, goes head-to-head with three-times nominated , nine-time nominee (ii) and second-time nominee . Harry Hill receives his first nomination in the Entertainment Performance category alongside first-time nominees Simon Amstell for , Alan Carr and Justin Lee Collins for and fourth-time nominee in this category Stephen Fry for .

Heston Blumenthal receives his first nomination in the Features category for , nominated alongside culinary opponent , and .

The Comedy Programme category exclusively comprises first time nominees with , and competing with and .

The BBC’s is nominated for the first time since Bjorn Borg faced John McEnroe in 1980, the 2007 tennis final faces three ITV rivals in the Sport category including second-time nominee the , last year’s winner (this time for ) and the .

Each of the major news outlets is nominated for this year’s News Coverage category: , , and Sky News for its . Whilst in Interactivity, , , and Channel 4’s fight it out.

, last year’s Audience Award winner and Drama Series nominee is once again nominated in the latter category competing with E4’s , BBC Two’s and last year’s winner .

In the Single Drama category, More4 receives its first nomination this year for , up against , and two-time nominee . In the hotly-contested Continuing Drama category, receives its second BAFTA nomination, joined by fourth-timer and previous winners and . In the last of the drama categories, Drama Serial, gets its first-ever nomination, facing competition from , and the year’s most nominated .

In the Specialist Factual(2) category, the nominations are , , and A which is also nominated for the Sky+ Audience Award. receives its ninth nomination in the Current Affairs category for , while receives its eighth, this time for ; both face competition from Channel 4’s and which is the first nomination in this category for BBC Three.

Another of BBC Three’s nominations is in the International category, up against which was nominated last year, Five’s and BBC Two’s . In the Single Documentary(3) category BBC2’s , C4’s and BBC4’s are up against much talked-about ITV documentary .

Stephen Merchant and David Mitchell receive individual acclaim this year in the Comedy Performance category for and respectively. They go up against new nominee James Corden for and previous winner Peter Capaldi for . Both three-time nominee and are also recognised in the Situation Comedy category alongside last year’s nominee and ITV newcomer .

Completing this year’s line-up is the Sky+ Audience Award for the Programme of the Year, the only Award of the night decided by the public, and honouring the most loved and admired programmes of 2007. The shortlist was compiled by a panel of TV-related broadcast and print media and comprises , , , , and . Votes are being cast now on www.bestonthebox.com up until April 18 at 00.01 hrs.

For more information regarding this year’s British Academy Television Awards supported by Sky+ visit www.bafta.org. For further information on the nominations visit the Event’s media partner Radio Times on www.radiotimes.com.

For more information please contact:

Zoe Anderson at freud communications on 020 3003 6300 or [email protected].

Danielle Robinson at freud communications on 020 3003 6316 or
[email protected].

About BAFTA

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts supports, develops and promotes the art forms of the moving image by identifying and rewarding excellence, inspiring practitioners and benefiting the public.

About Sky+

Sky+, the UK’s most popular personal video recorder, allows viewers to pause and rewind live TV, record two channels at the same time, set up series links to record every episode of a show and even set recordings from anywhere in the world via a PC or mobile phone.

Notes to editors

(i) Judi Dench this year received her 12th BAFTA television nomination, equalling Victoria Wood’s record 12 in TV. When added to her 12 nominations for Film, this makes her the most BAFTA-nominated Actress.

(ii) has received 9 nominations in the Entertainment Programme category. In addition, performers Paul Merton, Angus Deayton and Boris Johnson have also received nominations for their appearances on the show. These combined nominations total 24 associated nominations – the highest for one show.

For further information on how the channels have fared or for this year’s nominees’ previous nominations please refer to accompanying documents.

(1) The Entertainment Programme BAFTA is given in honour of Lew Grade
(2) Specialist Factual is given in honour of Huw Wheldon
(3) Single Documentary is given in honour of Robert Flaherty

Press Release: TV Nominations in 2008 (84.2 KB)

View the full list of nominations