BAFTA TV Awards: Steve McQueen’s ‘Small Axe’ Dominates Nominations

Small Axe, Steve McQueen’s landmark anthology series about the lives of West Indian immigrants in London from the 1960s to the 1980s, leads the pack of 2021 BAFTA TV and BAFTA TV Craft award nominees.

The acclaimed BBC/Amazon series — which many have argued should have been battling for Oscars and BAFTA film awards this year — landed 15 nominations on Wednesday, including for best mini-series, two for leading actor (John Boyega and Shaun Parkes), leading actress (Letitia Wright), and nine in the craft categories.

Small Axe was followed by Netflix’s The Crown with 10, including a leading actor nomination for Josh O’Connor. One noticeable snub — one of very few — was the overlooking of the show’s season four breakout star Emma Corrin, despite the actress winning a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Princess Diana.

Meanwhile, Michaela Coel’s groundbreaking I May Destroy You earned eight nominations (including for Coel, Paapa Essiedu and Weruche Opia in the acting categories), closely followed by Normal People with seven and Sex Education with six.

Further down, Adult Material and I Hate Suzie landed five each.

Across the performance categories there were 18 first-time BAFTA nominees, including Normal People‘s Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones and Friday Night Dinner star Paul Ritter, who tragically passed away earlier this month at the age of 54.

The BAFTA TV awards ceremony is set to take place June 6, while the craft awards will be streamed on BAFTA’s social channels on May 24.

See the main BAFTA TV and BAFTA TV Craft nominees for 2021 below.

BAFTA TV Nominations

Mini-Series
Adult Material
I May Destroy You
Normal People
Small Axe 

Drama Series
Gangs Of London
I Hate Suzie
Save Me Too
The Crown 

Leading Actor
John Boyega, Small Axe
Josh O’Connor, The Crown
Paapa Essiedu, I May Destroy You
Paul Mescal, Normal People
Shaun Parkes, Small Axe
Waleed Zuaiter, Baghdad Central

Leading Actress
Billie Piper, I Hate Suzie
Daisy Edgar-Jones, Normal People
Hayley Squires, Adult Material
Jodie Comer, Killing Eve
Letitia Wright, Small Axe
Michaela Coel, I May Destroy You

Supporting Actor
Kunal Nayyar, Criminal: UK
Malachi Kirby, Small Axe
Michael Sheen, Quiz
Micheal Ward, Small Axe
Rupert Everett, Adult Material
Tobias Menzies, The Crown

Supporting Actress
Helena Bonham Carter, The Crown
Leila Farzad, I Hate Suzie
Rakie Ayola, Anthony
Siena Kelly, Adult Material
Sophie Okonedo, Criminal: Uk
Weruche Opia, I May Destroy You

Comedy Entertainment Programme
Charlie Brooker’s Antiviral Wipe
Rob & Romesh Vs
The Big Narstie Show
The Ranganation Production

Male Performance In A Comedy Programme
Charlie Cooper, This Country
Guz Khan, Man Like Mobeen
Joseph Gilgun, Brassic
Ncuti Gatwa, Sex Education
Paul Ritter, Friday Night Dinner
Reece Shearsmith, Inside No.9

Female Performance In A Comedy Programme
Aimee Lou Wood, Sex Education
Daisy Haggard, Breeders
Daisy May Cooper, This Country
Emma Mackey Sex Education
Gbemisola Ikumelo, Famalam
Mae Martin, Feel Good

Scripted Comedy
Ghosts
Inside No. 9
Man Like Mobeen
This Country 

International
Little America
Lovecraft Country
Unorthodox
Welcome To Chechnya: The Gay Purge (Storyville)

Single Drama
Anthony
Bbw (On The Edge)
Sitting In Limbo
The Windermere Children 

Single Documentary
American Murder: The Family Next Door
Anton Ferdinand: Football, Racism & Me
Locked In: Breaking The Silence (Storyville)
Surviving Covid 

Reality & Constructed Factual
Masterchef: The Professionals
Race Across The World
The School That Tried To End Racism
The Write Offs 

Live Event
Life Drawing Live!
Springwatch 2020
The Royal British Legion Festival Of Remembrance
The Third Day: Autumn 

Virgin Media’s Must-See Moment (as voted for by the public):
Bridgerton: Penelope is revealed as Lady Whistledown
Britain’s Got Talent: Diversity perform a routine inspired by the events of 2020
EastEnders: Gary kills Chantelle
Gogglebox: Reactions to Boris Johnson’s press conference
Nigella’s Cook, Eat, Repeat: Mee-cro-wah-vay
The Mandalorian: Luke Skywalker arrives

BAFTA TV Craft Nominations

Emerging Talent: Fiction
Georgi Banks-Davies (Director), I Hate Suzie
Harry Tulley (Dubbing Mixer), Anthony
Stephen S. Thompson (Writer), Sitting in Limbo 
William Stefan Smith (Director), On the Edge: BBW

Emerging Talent: Factual
Ashley Francis-Roy (Shooting Producer/Director) Damilola: The Boy Next Door & The Real Eastenders 
Jessica Kelly (Director) The Schools that Chain Boys & Silicon Valley’s Online Slave Market 
Kandise Abiola (Producer) Terms & Conditions: A UK Drill Story
Marian Mohamed (Director) Defending Digga D

Costume Design
Rosa Dias, Sex Education
Jacqueline Durran, Small Axe
James Keast, Belgravia
Amy Roberts, The Crown

Director: Factual
Xavier Alford, Locked in: Breaking the Silence (Storyville)
James Bluemel, Once Upon a Time in Iraq
Teresa Griffiths, Lee Miller – A Life on the Front Line
Deeyah Khan, America’s War on Abortion (Exposure)

Director: Fiction
Lenny Abrahamson, Normal People 
Benjamin Caron, The Crown (episode 3)
Michaela Coel, Sam Miller, I May Destroy You
Steve McQueen, Small Axe

Editing: Fiction
Chris Dickens, Steve McQueen, Small Axe
Editing Team, I May Destroy You 
Nathan Nugent, Normal People (episode 5)
Pia Di Ciaula, Quiz

Make Up & Hair Design
Bethany Swan, I May Destroy You
Cate Hall, The Crown
Jojo Williams, Small Axe
Louise Coles, Sarah Nuth, Lorraine Glynn, Erin Ayanian, The Great

Original Music
Cristobal Tapia De Veer, The Third Day (Episode 3)
Scott Salinas, Baghdad Central 
Harry Escott, Roadkill
Martin Phipps, The Crown

Photography & Lighting
Ed Rutherford, Little Birds
Rob Hardy, Devs
Shabier Kirchner, Small Axe 
Suzie Lavelle, Normal People 

Production Design
Helen Scott, Small Axe
Joel Collins, His Dark Materials 
Matt Gant, Megan Bosaw, Gangs Of London 
Samantha Harley, Alexandra Slade, Sex Education

Scripted Casting
Gary Davy, Small Axe 
Kate Rhodes James, Baghdad Central 
Lauren Evans, Sex Education
Shaheen Baig, The Third Day 

Sound: Fiction
Jon Thomas, Gareth Bull, James Ridgway, Dillon Bennett, Eilam Hoffman, His Dark Materials (Episode 7)
Niall O’sullivan, Steve Fanagan, Niall Brady, Normal People
Paul Cotterell, James Harrison, Ronald Bailey, Small Axe 
Sound Team, The Crown

Special, Visual & Graphic Effects
Ben Turner, Reece Ewing, Chris Reynolds, Asa Shoul, Framestore, Untold Studios, The Crown 
Michael Illingworth, Oliver Milburn, Danny Hargreaves, Oliver Ogneux, Laura Usaite, Pedrom Dadgostar, War Of The Worlds
Milk Visual Effects, Dneg Tv, Freefolk, Goodbye Kansas Studios, Greg Fisher, Dave Houghton, Cursed
Russell Dodgson, James Whitlam, Jean-Clement Soret, Robert Harrington, Dan May, Brian Fisher, His Dark Materials

Writer: Comedy
Charlie Brooker, Charlie Brooker’s Antiviral Wipe
Daisy May Cooper, Charlie Cooper, This Country
Sophie Willan, Alma’s Not Normal 
Writing Team, Ghosts

Writer: Drama
Alastair Siddons, Steve Mcqueen, Small Axe 
Lucy Kirkwood, Adult Material 
Lucy Prebble, I Hate Suzie
Michaela Coel, I May Destroy You