10 BAFTA Television Awards nominees

This year’s BAFTA Television Awards on Friday 31st July will be like no other, for reasons we presumably don’t have to go into here.

But one thing hasn’t changed about this year’s ceremony, and that’s the quality and range of programmes that will be celebrated.

Here we take a look at 10 of this year’s nominated shows before we run down all the other commercial TV programmes in the running for the 2020 Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards.

A Confession - ITV / Britbox

Writer and producer Jeff Pope is the master of the true crime drama and ITV’s A Confession was no exception.

Martin Freeman stars as the real-life detective who destroyed his own career to catch a killer in a sad, riveting drama that asks questions about how we want our police to behave when someone goes missing.

Co-starring Siobhan Finneran, Imelda Staunton and Joe Absolom, the six-part drama is nominated for the mini-series BAFTA with a second nomination for Absolom for supporting actor.

What they say: ‘One of the year’s best dramas … full of telling little moments and superbly played by the ensemble cast.’ Daily Telegraph

Stath Lets Flats - Channel 4

Stath Lets Flats was one of 2018’s funniest new sitcoms, characterised by its eccentric humour and surreal plotlines, and last year’s second series was even better.

Written by and starring Jamie Demetriou, it follows the (mis)adventures of Greek-Cypriot Stath, a lovably hapless hero working for his father’s estate agents.

For the second successive year it is in the running for two BAFTAs - the scripted comedy prize and male performance in a comedy programme award for Demetriou.

What they say: ‘Superlatively weird and deliriously funny, It’s the bizarre inability of its central characters to grasp reality - and adulthood - that makes Stath so unique.’ iNews

Chernobyl - Sky Atlantic/Now TV

Utterly gripping and terrifying in equal measure, never mind the edge of your seat, Sky Atlantic’s Chernobyl left you on the floor.

The five-part drama takes viewers into the heart of the catastrophe, an experience that is unremittingly grim and yet one that you can’t take your eyes off for a second.

Chernobyl is in the running for three BAFTAs - mini series, leading actor (Jared Harris) and supporting actor (Stellan Skarsgard), two of the standouts from a cast that was uniformly brilliant.

What they say: ‘Horrifying, masterly television that sears onto your brain’ The Guardian

Harry’s Heroes: The Full English - ITV

If it was not quite a documentary of two halves - to coin a phrase - then there were indisputably two sides to Harry’s Heroes: The Full English.

Nominated for the reality and constructed factual BAFTA, it was a nostalgic treat watching Harry Redknapp put together a team of former England internationals for one last crack at a German Legends team.

But it was also a poignant and heartwarming insight into the pressures of professional football and what happens to old pros when their playing days come to an end. It’s since been followed by a sequel, Harry’s Heroes: Euro Having A Laugh.

What they say: ‘This sensitive programme was about far more than football.’ iNews

The End of the F***cking World - Channel 4

A comedy drama about teen nihilists on the run, the humour in The End of the F***cking World is dark. Very, very dark.

Based on a graphic novel by Charles Forsman, it is also brilliant, the story of a teenage boy, James, who thinks he’s a psychopath and a teenage girl, Alyssa, who sees James as an escape route. He regards her as someone to kill.

The second series is nominated for best drama series, with a further nomination for Naomi Ackie, who plays Bonnie, in the supporting actress category.

What they say: ‘Delightfully bleak, obsidian-black teen noir with savage class. Kids will love it.’ Observer

Succession - Sky Atlantic/Now TV

Two series in and people are already discussing where Jesse Armstrong’s HBO drama Succession - nominated for the international BAFTA Award - lies in the all-time TV drama hall of fame.

Brian Cox leads a glorious ensemble cast - including Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Matthew Macfadyen and Kieran Culkin - in this Shakespearian tale of a family dynasty’s disintegration when their patriarch declines to identify a successor.

There’s so much to enjoy, from trying to spot the real-life parallels to Armstrong’s dialogue, which is just as inventively foul-mouthed as you’d expect from someone whose credits include Peep Show and The Thick Of It.

What they say: ‘Casually masterful, absolutely hilarious, a brilliant dissection of a dysfunctional family … the must-watch TV of the year.’ The Guardian

Taskmaster – Dave/UKTV Play

Taskmaster, in which comedians play brilliantly silly games and then argue about how they did, has twice before been nominated for BAFTA's comedy entertainment programme prize but is yet to take it home.

If it proves third time lucky for Alex Horne’s much-loved panel game then it would surely be the perfect farewell for the show which is switching to Channel 4 after five years and nine series on UKTV’s Dave.

Plus, for the next series it would allow Horne and the titular Taskmaster - Greg Davies - to come up with a challenge for the most novel uses for a BAFTA. Well, maybe.

What they say: ‘Routinely delivers the funniest, most unexpected comedy of the TV week.’ Den of Geek

The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan - Channel 4

Mo Gilligan’s late night Channel 4 talkshow has been compared to a TFI Friday for the Snapchat generation although, if you’re one of the Snapchat generation, you might need to ask someone to explain TFI Friday.

Stand-up Gilligan built his reputation doing DIY comedy videos on social media. A sellout tour followed and now he’s bagged his first BAFTA nomination, for best entertainment performance.

A winning mix of music, celebs and silliness, The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan has just been recommissioned for a second series. Gilligan is on the up and up.

What they say: ‘There are meteoric rises, and then there’s Gilligan’s.’ The Guardian

Operation Live - Channel 5

Channel 5’s Operation Live transported viewers from their living room right into the heart of the operating theatre with a close-up and compelling glimpse of surgeons at work.

Nominated for BAFTA's live event award, if it occasionally didn’t make for easy watching then at least viewers can’t say they weren’t warned.

Fronted by Nicky Campbell, last year’s second series took place over three nights at the Royal London Hospital, beginning with a father donating a kidney to his son.

What they say: ‘An incredible moment of television.’ Digital Spy

Operation: Live returns in half an hour with a live father-to-son kidney transplant. Please tweet any questions using #OperationLive. pic.twitter.com/X6inKbpjNS

— Channel 5 (@channel5_tv) April 9, 2019

Coronation Street - ITV

The world’s longest-running soap opera is a double nominee at this year’s BAFTA awards.

It is nominated in the soap and continuing drama category (along with ITV stablemate, Emmerdale) and for the must-see moment award, the devastating death of Sinead Osbourne, played by Katie McGlynn.

Viewers were left in tears by her death, not long after becoming a wife and mum for the first time, after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

What they say: ‘There were points, it has to be said, where it seemed almost too much, but in real life it certainly is too much, and Corrie deserves plaudits for having the courage of its convictions and seeing this through to a hard-hitting, unflinching conclusion.’ Radio Times

And here are all the other commercial TV programmes nominated at Friday’s BAFTA Television Awards. Good luck to them all.

The Virtues - Channel 4

• Mini series
• Stephen Graham, leading actor
• Helen Behan, supporting actress

I Am Kirsty - Channel 4

• Samantha Morton, leading actress

Frayed - Sky One/NowTV

• Sarah Kendall, female performance in a comedy programme

Home - Channel 4

• Youssef Kerkour, male performance in a comedy programme

The Voice UK - ITV

• Entertainment programme

The Last Leg - Channel 4

• Comedy entertainment programme

Brexit: The Uncivil War - Channel 4

• Single drama

Catastrophe - Channel 4

• Scripted comedy

Derry Girls - Channel 4

• Scripted comedy

ICC Cricket World Cup Final - Sky Sports

• Sport

2019 Rugby World Cup Final - ITV

• Sport

Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back – Channel 4

• Features

Snackmasters – Channel 4

• Features

Celebrity Gogglebox - Channel 4

• Reality and constructed factual

Election 2019 Live: The Results - ITN/ITV

• News coverage
• Live event

Hong Kong Protests - Sky News

• News coverage

The Abused - Channel 5

• Single documentary

Leaving Neverland - Channel 4

• Factual series

Crime and Punishment - Channel 4

• Factual series

Undercover: Inside China’s Digital Gulag (Exposure) - ITV

• Current affairs

Growing up Poor: Britain’s Breadline Kids (Dispatches) - Channel 4

• Current affairs

The Hunt for Jihadi John - Channel 4

• Current affairs

The Family Secret - Channel 4

• Single documentary

Love Island - ITV2

• Must see moment ‘Michael decouples after Casa Amor’

Game of Thrones - Sky Atlantic / NowTV

• Must see moment ‘Arya kills the Night King’