'The Crown' leads nominations for BAFTA Television awards

[March 22, 2024]  LONDON (Reuters) - The final season of Netflix royal drama "The Crown" led nominations for the BAFTA Television Awards on Wednesday, with a scene from former footballer David Beckham's docuseries also up for a prize.   

"The Crown", which dramatizes the political and personal events that shaped the reign of Britain's late Queen Elizabeth, has eight nods at the annual British television industry awards, including four in the acting categories.

Cast members James Murray, Claudia Harrison, Dominic West, Erin Doherty, Marion Bailey, Marcia Warren, Viola Prettejohn, Beau Gadsdon, Jonathan Pryce, Imelda Staunton, Lesley Manville, Olivia Williams, Gillian Anderson, Elizabeth Debicki, Khalid Abdalla, Emma Corrin, Sebastian Blunt, Salim Daw, Luther Ford, Bertie Carvel, Jonny Lee Miller, Ed McVey and Meg Bellamy pose as they attend the premiere for the second part of Season 6 of the TV series "The Crown" in London, Britain, December 5, 2023. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes/File Photo

Dominic West, who plays then-Prince Charles, and Elizabeth Debicki, who portrays the late Princess Diana, are among the cast members nominated.

"Demon 79", the final episode of season six of the anthology series "Black Mirror", has seven nominations, including in the leading actress category for Anjana Vasan. She plays a shop assistant who has to commit three murders to stop the world ending.

Crime drama "Happy Valley" has six nominations, including a leading actress nod for its star, Sarah Lancashire. Other nominees for that prize include Helena Bonham Carter for biographical mini-series "Nolly" and Bella Ramsey for the adaptation of the post-apocalyptic video game "The Last of Us".

That series and the media dynasty drama "Succession" have five nominations each, including in the international category, where they face competition from culinary drama "The Bear" and road rage mini-series "Beef", among other shows.

More than 100 programs are nominated and 17 out of the 44 nominees in the performance categories received their first nod in the BAFTA Television Awards, which take place on May 12.

"I'm delighted to see so many first-time nominees, so much new and emerging talent and so many debut projects recognised today," Sara Putt, chair of BAFTA, said in a statement.

"We hope our awards can play a positive role in reinforcing the value of nurturing new talent and ideas, as well as holding a mirror up to stubborn industry inequities," she added, noting female directors were "still significantly outnumbered" by male counterparts in awards submissions.

Nominees for the memorable moment award, which were revealed last week, include a scene from "Beckham" - a mini-series about the British soccer star - in which David teases his fashion designer wife Victoria to be honest about her "working class" upbringing.

Other contenders for the award, the only one voted for by the public, include the announcement of Ncuti Gatwa taking over the lead role in British sci-fi series "Doctor Who".

(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Ros Russell)

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