Wolf Hall has emerged as the frontrunner in the race for this year’s BAFTA TV Awards.
The acclaimed BBC miniseries came away with four nominations at an announcement made on Wednesday, including drama series, leading actor for recent Oscar-winner Mark Rylance, leading actress for Claire Foy, soon to be seen as Queen Elizabeth in Netflix’s The Crown, and supporting actor for Anton Lesser.
The period drama — which aired on PBS in the U.S. — was followed by Shane Meadows’ gritty four-part comedy-drama This is England ’90, with three nominations. “You couldn’t have two more different series competing with each other, and to me that sums up the range of drama that’s made in the U.K.,” said BAFTA chief executive Amanda Berry.
Elsewhere, Golden Globe-winner Idris Elba was also nominated in the best actor category for Luther, alongside Ben Whishaw (who won in 2013) for London Spy and This is England ’90‘s Stephen Graham. Elba — who gets his first TV nomination — last went up against Rylance for best supporting actor at the BAFTA Film Awards in February, with Rylance taking home the prize. The Bridge of Spies actor won his only previous BAFTA TV nomination back in 2006 for The Government Inspector.
Joining Foy in the leading actress category are Sheridan Smith (The C-Word), Ruth Madeley (Don’t Take My Baby) and Suranne Jones (Doctor Foster). Wolf Hall itself is going up against Humans, The Last Panthers and No Offence for the drama series award.
In the international category, Netflix is going head to head with fellow streamer Amazon, getting its first BAFTA TV nomination, with Narcos shortlisted alongside Transparent. The Good Wife and Spiral also received nominations. Amazon’s comedy series Catastrophe also saw its star and co-creator Sharon Horgan tapped for female performance in a comedy program, just over a week after the Brit was nominated in the writer: comedy category for a BAFTA Craft award.
Among the others receiving their first BAFTA TV nominations were British icon and four-time film nominee Ian Mckellen for his supporting actor performance in The Dresser, and Adele for entertainment program Adele at the BBC.
Although it’s over a year away, the 2017 awards are already expected to be dominated by the Tom Hiddleston-starring spy thriller The Night Manager, which recently concluded on the BBC and launches on AMC next month.
“On a personal level, I adored The Night Manager and had to turn over from a two-hour special on the queen to watch the last episode, I just thought it was truly phenomenal television,” added Berry. “But we have a year to go and a lot of great drama to come.”
The 2016 ceremony is set to take place in London on May 8.
