London: Thursday 20 May 2010.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts today announced the shortlist of nominated shows for the YouTube Audience Award for most popular programme of 2009 at this year’s Philips British Academy Television Awards:

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Britain’s Got Talent*
Glee*
The Inbetweeners*
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The One Show*
Unforgiven*
The X Factor*
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The YouTube Audience Award is the only Award voted for by the public. It rewards the programmes that have captured audiences’ imaginations and were the most watched, loved and talked about in 2009. A panel of experts collated the shortlist, which features a variety of genres, including drama, entertainment and comedy.

From Tuesday 18 May up until 5pm on Friday 4 June, members of the public will have the opportunity to vote for the YouTube Audience Award on either the BAFTA YouTube Channel or at www.youtube.com/shows.

Tim Partridge, UK Marketing Manager from YouTube said “2009 was a brilliant year for TV, and it’s great to see this presented in the nominees for the YouTube Audience Award. Many of the biggest names in TV have brought their programmes to YouTube, and we’re delighted that our community can now play their part in TV History”.

Amanda Berry OBE, Chief Executive of BAFTA, said: “It is fantastic to see such a diverse list of programmes nominated for the YouTube Audience Award. These programmes have made a real impact on the consciousness of British viewers over the last year and have earned their place on the shortlist.”

Hosted by Graham Norton and broadcast on BBC One, the Awards will be held at the London Palladium on Sunday 6 June, 2010.

For further information on the YouTube Audience Award please contact:

Nancy Sanders / Mary Williams
Freud Communications
0203 003 6300

[email protected] / [email protected]

! Notes to editors

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 YouTube

YouTube is sponsoring this year’s award in celebration of the site’s recently launched YouTube “Shows” section (www.youtube.com/shows), bringing together over 3,700 hours of full length programming and clips from 150 professional content partners including channel 4 and Five.

About the shows

Britain’s Got Talent
ITV1/Talkback Thames
Hosted by Ant and Dec, with Simon Cowell, Piers Morgan and Amanda Holden on the judging panel, Britain’s Got Talent once again travelled the length and breadth of the UK to find Britain’s most talented individuals.

Glee
E4/20th Century Fox
Glee follows an optimistic secondary school teacher as he attempts to inspire an oddball group of students to realise their star potential and restore the school’s show choir – the Glee Club – to its former glory.

The Inbetweeners
E4/Bwark Productions
What do you get when you have a group of people who are not cool enough to be popular and not geeky enough to be nerds? You get The Inbetweeners.

The One Show
BBC One/BBC Productions
The One Show is a topical magazine-style television programme, broadcast live on weekdays at 7:00 pm on BBC One. Hosted by Christine Bleakley and until recently Adrian Chiles. It runs for 50 weeks of the year and is broadcast from BBC Media Village in White City, London.

The X Factor
ITV1/Talkback Thames/Syco
Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Dannii Minogue and Cheryl Cole resumed their judging roles for the sixth series of The X Factor. The show returned with a new audition process taking place in arenas across the country and in front of a live audience. Tens of thousands of audtionees were whittled down to the final 12, battling it out for their dream of stardom.

Unforgiven
ITV1/Red Production Company
Ruth Slater (Suranne Jones) is a 32 year old ‘lifer’, released from prison on licence after serving 15 years for murdering two policemen. Ruth’s overwhelming desire is to find her younger sister, Katie, with whom she lost contact when she was sent down.

The Panel

*Andrew Billen – The Times
*Emily Booth – Broadcast
*Andrew Docherty – iTunes
*Toby Earle – TV Easy
*Vicky Frost – The Guardian
*Boyd Hilton – Heat Magazine
*Jane Lush – Chair, Splash Media
*Sharon Marshall – This Morning
*Ben Preston – Radio Times
*Rachel Ward – The Telegraph