Bafta says all-white actress shortlist is a victory for 'mature' women

Bafta says best actress shortlist represents a victory for ‘mature’ women despite nominees including Vicky McClure being as young as 39 as it faces backlash over its all white shortlist

  • Read more:  This Is Going To Hurt and The Responder lead the Bafta shortlist

The Bafta TV awards has defended its all-white shortlist for best actress this year by declaring it a ‘triumph’ for mature women – despite the nominees being as young as 39. 

It comes as the awards are facing backlash yet again for a lack of diversity among the nominations, including in the best actor shortlist, which features just one non-white person. 

It follows the Bafta Film Awards last month where all the winners were white, despite people of colour accounting for almost 40 per cent of nominees – leading ‘Baftas so white’ to start trending on Twitter. 

But Bafta chief executive Jane Millichip defended the leading actress shortlist for the TV awards this year, saying: ‘The most remarkable thing is the age of those actors and the maturity of the roles that were written for them.’

Her comments have been blasted on social media, with Twitter users declaring: ‘That is not how diversity works’. Another added: ‘Since when do old white ladies count as diversity?’ 

Among the nominees are Vicky McClure (pictured), aged 39, who plays a mother whose daughter was murdered in Without Sin

Billie Piper (pictured), aged a mere 40, is also battling for the prize for her portrayal of a failed actress in I Hate Suzie Too

READ MORE:  When are the BAFTA TV Awards? Here is everything you need to know about the star-studded 2023 ceremony

Others questioned whether the actresses could really be described as ‘mature’ given some of their ages. 

Among the nominees are Vicky McClure, aged 39, who plays a mother whose daughter was murdered in Without Sin. 

Billie Piper, aged a mere 40, is also battling for the prize for her portrayal of a failed actress in I Hate Suzie Too.  

Rounding out the list are Kate Winslet, 47, Maxine Peake, 48, Sarah Lancashire, 58 and Imelda Staunton, 67. 

Winslet is up for her role in I Am Ruth, in which she plays a mother to a troubled teen who has become consumed by social media. 

Peake also played a mother to earn her nomination, portraying bereaved Hillsborough campaigner Anne Williams in Anne. 

Staunton is nominated for her role as Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown while Lancashire is up for Julia, a biopic of American chef Julia Child. 

MailOnline has contacted Bafta for comment.  

It comes after the awards were criticised in 2021 for not nominating more mature women. Billie Piper had been the oldest on the shortlist at 38. 

Kate Winslet, 47, (pictured) is up for her role in I Am Ruth, in which she plays a mother to a troubled teen who has become consumed by social media

Role: Maxine Peake, 48, pictured in character as Anne Williams, a bereaved Hillsborough campaigner 

Speaking on the awards’ perceived diversity issue, Sara Putt, deputy chairman of Bafta, said: ‘Every year after the awards we take all of the stats back, we look at them, we analyse them, we discuss what we need to do and are we fit for purpose.

‘It’s an ongoing conversation and we need to keep diversity in all its forms at the front of our minds.

‘We are a barometer of the industry. We reflect what’s out there, what’s being made, and the performances there have been during that year.’

American Chaske Spencer is the only non-white nominee in the leading actor category for his role in The English. 

He will face off against Ben Whishaw for This Is Going To Hurt, Cillian Murphy for Peaky Blinders, Gary Oldman for Slow Horses, Martin Freeman for The Responder and Taron Egerton for Black Bird.

BBC have received the most nominations out of all the broadcasters with 47 nods in total, Channel 4 received 21 and ITV scored 15.

Sarah Lancashire, 58, looked unrecognisable as she donned a curly brunette wig to embody the late cook Julia Child 

Imelda Staunton, 67, is nominated for her role as Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown

The Crown received five nominations for its most recent series which aired last Autumn, including Leading Actress and Supporting Actor.

Apple TV+ hits Bad Sisters and Slow Horses, as well as Emily Blunt’s The English also received five nods each.

Slow Horses star Gary Oldman has also received his first BAFTA TV nomination.

In the international category, The Bear, Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Wednesday, Oussekine, Pachinko and The White Lotus are all nominated.

Comedians Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan have been confirmed to host the BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises on Sunday May 14. 

A total of 128 programmes received nominations from a record-breaking number of entries across Television and Craft.

BAFTA TV Awards Nominations

DRAMA SERIES

Bad Sisters

The Responder

Sherwood

Somewhere Boy 

LEADING ACTOR

Ben Whishaw – This Is Going To Hurt

Chaske Spencer – The English

Cillian Murphy – Peaky Blinders

Gary Oldman – Slow Horses

Martin Freeman – The Responder

LEADING ACTRESS

Billie Piper – I Hate Suzie Too

Imelda Staunton – The Crown

Kate Winslet – I Am Ruth

Maxine Peake – Anne

Sarah Lancashire – Julia

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Adeel Akhtar – Sherwood

Jack Lowden – Slow Horse

Josh Finan – The Responder

Salim Daw –  The Crown

Samuel Bottomley – Somewhere Boy

Will Sharpe – The White Lotus 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Adelayo Adedayo – The Responder

Anne-Marie Duff – Bad Sisters

Fiona Shaw – Andor

Jasmine Jobson – Top Boy

Lesley Manville – Sherwood

Saffron Hocking – Top Boy

MALE PERFORMANCE IN A COMEDY PROGRAMME

Daniel Radcliffe – Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

Jon Pointing – Big Boys

Joseph Gilgun – Brassic

Lenny Rush – Am I Being Unreasonable?

Matt Berry – What We Do In The Shadows 

FEMALE PERFORMANCE IN A COMEDY PROGRAMME

Daisy May Cooper – Am I Being Unreasonable?

Diane Morgan – Cunk On Earth

Lucy Beaumont – Meet The Richardsons

Nastasia Demetriou – Ellie & Natasia

Siobhán McSweeney – Derry Girls

Taj Atwal – Hullraisers 

INTERNATIONAL

The Bear

Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story

Wednesday

Oussekine

Pachinko

The White Lotus 

MINI-SERIES

A Spy Among Friends

Mood

The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe 

This Is Going To Hurt

SINGLE DRAMA

I Am Ruth

The House

Life and Death In The Warehouse  

SPORT

Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

UEFA Women’s Euro 2022

Wimbledon 2022 

DAYTIME

The Chase

The Repair Shop: A Royal Visit

Scam Interceptors 

COMEDY ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMME

Friday Night Live

The Graham Norton Show

Taskmaster

Would I Lie To You

ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMME

Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway 

Later… With Jools Holland: Jool’s 30th Birthday Bash

The Masked Singer

Strictly Come Dancing

ENTERTAINMENT PERFORMANCE

Big Zuu – Big Zuu’s Big Eats

Claudia Winkleman – The Traitors

Lee Mack – The 1% Club

Mo Gilligan – The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan

Rosie Jones – Rosie Jones’ Trip Hazard

Sue Perkins – Sue Perkins: Perfectly Legal

FACTUAL SERIES

Jeremy Kyle Show: Death On Daytime

Libby, Are You Home Yet?

Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi

Worlds Collide: The Manchester Bombing

FEATURES

Big Zuu’s Big Eats

Joe Lycett vs Beckham: Got Your Back at Xmas 

The Martin Lewis Money Show Livee

The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan

LIVE EVENT

Concert for Ukraine

Platinum Jubilee: Party at the Palace

The State Funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II

SCRIPTED COMEDY

Am I Being Unreasonable?

Big Boys

Derry Girls

Ghosts 

REALITY & CONSTRUCTED FACTUAL

Freddie Flintoff’s Field Of Dreams

RuPaul’s Drag Race UK

The Traitors

We are Black and British 

SHORT FORM PROGRAMME

Always, Asifa

Biscuitland

How To Be A Person

Kingpin Crisis

SINGLE DOCUMENTARY

Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes

Escape From Kabul Airport

Our Falklands War: A Frontline Story

The Real Mo Farah 

SOAP & CONTINUING DRAMA

Casualty

EastEnders

Emmerdale 

SPECIALIST FACTUAL

AIDS: The Unheard TaPes

The Green Planet

How To Survive A Dictator with Munya Chawawa 

Russia 1985-1999: Traumazone

CURRENT AFFAIRS

Afghanistan: No Country For Women

Children of the Taliban

The Crossing (Exposure)

Mariupol: The People’s Story (Panorama) 

NEWS COVERAGE

BBC News at Ten: Russia Invades Ukraine

Channel 4 News: Live in Kyiv

Good Morning Britain: Boris Johnson Interview 

 

BAFTA Television Craft Awards nominations

DIRECTOR: FICTION

Dearbhla Walsh – Bad Sisters

Hugo Blick – The English

Lucy Forbes – This Is Going To Hurt

William Stefan Smith – Top Boy

DIRECTOR: FACTUAL

Emma Cooper – The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes

Felicity Morris – The Tindler Swindler

James Jones – Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes

Sophie Robinson – My Dead Body

DIRECTOR: MULTI-CAMERA

Directing Team – The State Funeral Of HM Queen Elizabeth II 

Janet Fraser Crook – Glastonbury 2022

Julia Knowles – Platinum Jubilee: Party At The Palace 

Nikki Parsons – Strictly Come Dancing

WRITER – DRAMA

Adam Kay – This Is Going To Hurt

Alice Oseman – Heartstopper

Pete Jackson – Somewhere Boy

Tony Schumacher – The Responder 

WRITER – COMEDY

Jack Rooke – Big Boys

Lisa McGee – Derry Girls

Nancy Harris – The Dry

Sharon Horgan, Barunka O’Shaughnessy, Helen Serafinowicz, Holly Walsh – Motherland 

COSTUME DESIGN 

Amy Roberts – The Crown

Becky Sloan, Joe Pelling – Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared

Jane Petrie – The Essex Serpent

Phoebe De Gaye – The English 

MAKE UP & HAIR DESIGN

Amanda Knight, Barrie Gower, Rosalia Culora – House of the Dragon

Daniel Parker, Deborah Kenton, Claudia Stolze, Jovana Jovanovic, Wayne Fitzsimmons, Jana Radilová – Dangerous Liaisons 

Helen Speyer – Gangs of London

Tara McDonald – Wednesday

ORIGINAL MUSIC: FICTION 

Daniel Pemberton, Mick Jagger – Slow Horses

Federico Jusid – The English

Matthew Herbert – The Responder

Nicôle Lecky, Bryan Senti, Kwame KZ Kwei-Armah Jr  – Mood

ORIGINAL MUSIC: FACTUAL

Andrew Phillips – House of Maxwell

Jessica Jones – Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story

Jessica Jones – The Tindler Swindler

Max De Wardener – The Elon Musk Show 

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Alice Normington – The Essex Serpent

Becky Sloan, Joe Pelling – Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared

Chris Roope – The English

Kave Quinn, Tim Blake, Stella Fox, Penny Crawford, Emily Norris – Pistol

SPECIAL, VISUAL & GRAPHIC EFFECTS

Angus Bickerton, Nikeah Forde, Asa Shoul, Mike Dawson, MPS, Pixomondo – House of the Dragon

Industrial Light & Magic – The Sandman

Mohen Leo, TJ Falls, Richard Van Den Bergh, Jean-Clément Soret, Industrial Light & Magic – Andor

Russell Dodgson, Bryony Duncan, Sam Chynoweth, Damien Stumpf, Danny Hargreaves, Eliot Gibbons – His Dark Materials

TITLES & GRAPHIC IDENTITY

Balázs Simon, BBC Creative, Gas Music – Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics 

Peter Anderson Studio – Bad Sisters 

Tom Hingston, Markus Lehtonen, Sam Norris – Life After Life

YU+CO – The Essex Serpent

EDITING: FICTION 

Celia Haining – The Crown

Frances Parker – Andor (Episode 7)

Katie Weiland – Slow Horses (Series 1, Episode 1) 

Selina MaCarthur – This Is Going to Hurt

EDITING: FACTUAL

Ben Brown – Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story

Doug Bryson – Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing

Mark Summers – Afghanistan – No Country for Women (Exposure)

Rupert Houseman – Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes

EMERGING TALENT: FICTION 

Jack Rooke (Writer) – Big Boys 

Lynette Linton (Director) – My Name is Leon

Nicôle Lecky (Writer) – Mood

Pete Jackson (Writer) – Somewhere Boy

EMERGING TALENT: FACTUAL 

Charlie Melville (Producer/Director) –  John & Joe Bishop: Life After Deaf

Helen Hobin (Photography) – Frozen Planet II 

Jason Osborne (Director) – Our Jubilee 

Joy Ash (Series Producer) – Super Surgeons: A Chance at Life

ENTERTAINMENT CRAFT TEAM 

Andy Devonshire, James Dillon, Dru Masters, Rebecca Bowker – Taskmaster 

Catherine Land, David Bishop, Patrick Doherty, Richard Silitto, David Newton, Joe Phillips – Strictly Come Dancing

Jen Bollom, Gareth Iles, Tim Routledge, Steve Sidwell, Richard Valentine, Chris Vaughan – Concert For Ukraine 

Tom Bairstow, Nigel Catmur, Andy Deacon, Kevin Duff, Simon Haw, Steve Sidwell – Platinum Jubilee: Party At The Palace

PHOTOGRAPHY & LIGHTING: FICTION

Anthony Dod Mantle – Pistol

Ben Wheeler – The Tourist

Chas Appeti – Jungle

Rachel Clark – I Am Ruth

PHOTOGRAPHY: FACTUAL

Marcel Mettelsiefen, Jordan Bryon — Children of the Taliban 

Steve Jamison – Hold Your Breath: The Ice Dive 

Sue Gibson, Robin Cox, Florian Schulz, Will Nicholls – Predators 

Tim Shepherd, Oliver Mueller, Todd Kewley, Jessica Mitchell, Sam Lewis – Green Planet (Tropical Worlds)

SCRIPTED CASTING

Des Hamilton, Elan Jones – Top Boy

Julie Harkin – Am I Being Unreasonable?

Nina Gold, Lucy Amos – Bad Sister

Nina Gold, Martin Ware – This Is Going To Hurt 

SOUND: FICTION

Alastair Sirkett, Doug Cooper, Martin Seeley, Paula Fairfield, Tim Hands, Adele Fletcher – House of the Dragon 

Judi Lee Headman, Nigel Squibbs, Tony Gibson, Darren McQuade – SAS Rogue Heroes 

Martin Jensen, Joe Beal, Duncan Price, Craig Butters, Sarah Elias, Andrew Sissons – Slow Horses

Sound Team – The Crown 

SOUND: FACTUAL

Doug Dreger, Andrew Yarme, Nick Fry, Steve Speed, James Evans, Hugh Dwan – Formula 1: Drive to Survive 

Kate Hopkins, Tim Owens, Graham Wild – Frozen Planet II (Frozen Worlds)

Peter Bridges, Matthew Charles, Conrad Fletcher, Julian Gough, Andy James, Andy Payne – The State Funeral Of HM Queen Elizabeth II

Tudor Davies – Later…with Jools Holland

Source: Read Full Article