Bafta defends all-white nominations for best actress at TV Awards amid backlash: ‘There is representation’
Posted by  badge Boss on Mar 23, 2023 - 02:02AM
Imelda Staunton is nominated for her role in The Crown. (Credits: AP)

Bafta bosses have defended the lack of diversity within this year’s Television Award nominations.

The full line-up, which was , saw BBC medical drama This Is Going to Hurt leading the charge with an impressive six nods.

The leading actress category includes recognised for her role as Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix’s The Crown, Kate Winslet, and .

After fans pointed addressed that the nominees are all-white, Bafta CEO Jane Millichip explained to : ‘There is representation in that category in the fact that if you look at the age of the actresses and the roles written for them, it is extraordinary.

‘This is something that we’ve discussed for a long time in the television and film world: Are there roles written for women over the age of 40? That is a really impressive result.’

The statement sparked mixed opinions from fans, with one person tweeting:
‘Technically, yes, older white women is a demographic, but they are still a part of the Anglo-Saxon voting base. Common sense dictates that diversity also applies to race and ethnicity, not just gender/age. Sigh. Do better.’

Kate Winslet is also up for leading actress at this year’s ceremony (Picture: Shutterstock)
Medical drama This Is Going to Hurt is up for six nominations (Picture: BBC)

Another fumed: ‘BAFTA Says Older White Women Count As Diversity – what a ridiculous and completely ageist statement – nobody should be considered diverse because of age! Shame.’

This year’s Bafta film awards on Twitter as online users criticised an absence of diversity .

The awards at ’s Royal Festival Hall delivered a range of historic moments but also sparked widespread criticism online over the lack of diversity among winners.

Sky News presenter Saima Mohsin tweeted: ‘I watched clips of the #BAFTAS and didn’t see a single black or brown person win.

‘Not because they’re not white but because they’re good, really good and the best. In so many categories. Overlooked and ignored time & again.

‘So depressing. Unconscious bias & systemic. #BaftasSoWhite.’

Full list of Bafta TV nominations 2023

Comedy Entertainment programme:

  • Friday Night Live
  • The Graham Norton Show
  • Taskmaster
  • Would I Lie to You?

Current Affairs:

  • Afghanistan: No Country For Women
  • Children of the Taliban
  • The Crossing
  • Mariupol: The People’s Story

Daytime:

  • The Chase
  • The Repair Shop
  • Scam Interceptors

Drama Series:

  • Bad Sisters
  • The Responder
  • Sherwood
  • Somewhere Boy

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)

Entertainment programme:

  • Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway
  • Later… with Jools Holland: Jool’s 30th Birthday Bash
  • The Masked Singer
  • Strictly Come Dancing

Factual Series:

  • Jeremy Kyle Show: Death on Daytime
  • Libby, Are You Home Yet
  • Vatican Girl: The Disapearance 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 Live
  • The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan

Female Performance in a Comedy programme:

  • Daisy May Cooper (Am I Being Unreasonable?)
  • Diane Morgan (Cunk on Earth)
  • Lucy Beaumont (Meet The Richardsons)
  • Natasia Demetriou (Ellie & Natasia)
  • Siobhan McSweeney (Derry Girls)
  • Taj Atwal (Hullraisers)

International:

  • The Bear
  • Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story
  • Wednesday
  • Oussekine
  • Pachinko
  • The White Lotus

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)
  • Taron Egerton (Black Bird)

Leading Actress:

  • Billie Piper (I Hate Suzie Too)
  • Imelda Staunton (The Crown)
  • Kate Winslet (I Am Ruth)
  • Maxine Peak (Anne)
  • Sarah Lancashire (Julia)
  • Vicky McClure (Without Sin)

Live Event:

  • Concert for Ukraine
  • Platinum Jubilee: Party at the Palace
  • The State Funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II

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)
  • Stephen Merchant (The Outlaws)

Mini-series

  • A Spy Among Friends
  • Mood
  • The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe
  • This Is Going To Hurt

News Coverage:

  • BBC News at Ten: Russia Invades Ukraine
  • Channel 4 News: Live in Kyiv
  • Good Morning Britain: Boris Johnson Interview

Reality and Constructed Factual:

  • Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams
  • RuPaul’s Drag Race UK
  • The Traitors
  • We Are Black and British

Scripted Comedy:

  • Am I Being Unreasonable?
  • Big Boys
  • Derry Girls
  • Ghosts

Short Form programme:

  • Always, Asifa
  • Biscuitland
  • How To Be a Person
  • Kingpin Cribs

Single documentary:

  • Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes
  • Escape from Kabul Airport
  • Our Falklands War: A Frontline Story
  • The Real Mo Farah

Single drama:

  • I Am Ruth
  • The House
  • Life and Death in the Warehouse

Soap and Continuing Drama:

  • Casualty
  • EastEnders
  • Emmerdale

Specialist Factual:

  • AIDS: The Unheard Tapes
  • The Green Planer
  • How To Survive A Dictator with Munya Chawawa
  • Russia: 1985-1999: Traumazone

Sport:

  • Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games
  • UEFA Women’s Euro 2022
  • Wimbledon 2022

Supporting Actor:

  • Adeel Akhtar (Sherwood)
  • Jack Lowden (Slow Horses)
  • 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)

The Bafta TV Awards takes place on Sunday, May 14 on on BBC One and iPlayer at 7pm.