Cranford Leads BBC Charge on New Baftas

BBC drama Cranford and its star Dame Judi Dench dominated the Bafta TV award nominations yesterday.

Cranford, based on the books by Elizabeth Gaskell, takes the most nominations with three.

Dame Judi receives a record 24th nomination, including her previous nominations for film.

In the entertainment programme category, Britain’s Got Talent – the show won by opera singer Paul Potts – goes head-to-head with three times nominated Strictly Come Dancing.

The other nominees in the category are Have I Got News for You and Harry Hill’s TV Burp.

Coronation Street misses out on a nomination for Continuing Drama.

Instead, The Bill, EastEnders, Emmerdale, and Holby City are up for the award.

In the Features category, chef Heston Blumenthal receives his first nomination for the cookery show Heston Blumenthal: In Search of Perfection.

Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares is his culinary opponent, alongside The Secret Millionaire and Top Gear.

Notable absentees this year include presenting duo Ant and Dec, who are usually Bafta TV regulars, and Jonathan Ross.

As a single channel, Channel 4 has most nominations (23), followed by BBC1 (20) and ITV1 (12).

As an umbrella of channels, the BBC leads the way with 38 nominations, almost half of the total, followed by 25 for Channel 4, including More4 and E4.

As well as two nods for best actress, Cranford is also in the running for best drama serial, up against Britz (Channel 4), Five Days (BBC1), and Murphy’s Law (BBC1).

Tim Corrie, deputy chair of the Bafta TV committee, said: “Judi Dench is an extraordinary performer and Cranford is a brilliantly made programme which has three nominations, the most this year. It is beautifully made.

“It’s very interesting to see that two grand Dames of acting are going up against each other.”

He said of the absence of Ant and Dec: “There are new people coming up all the time. It’s good to see Bafta reflecting the ringing of changes.

“If you look at the acting awards the new are coming up against the others.”

He said of the continuing drama category: “Holby City and The Bill have never won it before. Maybe that will change this year.

“There are certain times when some (soaps) have their finger on the pulse of what fascinates people.

“Coronation Street is still the school for writing… I don’t think there’s any doubt about it being back there (on the list), if not next year than the year after.

“The state of British TV is very healthy.

You can say ‘Isn’t it a shame that reality TV is taking such a strong hold?’ but on the other hand that’s what people get excited by. It’s a fact of our life.

(c) 2008 Birmingham Post; Birmingham (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.