Netflix’s Baby Reindeer leads the way at Bafta TV nominations

By Kerri-Ann Roper and Charlotte McLaughlin, PA Entertainment

Netflix’s dark comedy series Baby Reindeer leads the way at this year’s Bafta TV awards with eight nominations.

ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which helped focus attention on the subpostmasters who were wrongly prosecuted during the Horizon IT scandal, has six nominations and is also nominated in the P&O Cruises’ memorable moment category.

Disney+ drama Rivals, which is adapted from a novel by Dame Jilly Cooper, has six nominations and a memorable moment nod, while Apple TV+ series Slow Horses, starring Oscar winner Gary Oldman, also has six nods.

Speaking about Rivals’ nominations, Bafta chief executive Jane Millichip told the PA news agency: “One, Jilly Cooper has written a series of fantastically popular books, and I think there was a huge fan lobby that were really pleased to see that brought to the screen.

“I think the joy in which it’s been brought to the screen really pulls through, it’s a rollicking entertaining series, and I think it does have that nostalgia in it.

“It’s got great talent in it as well, all the craft skills are really high in that series, so it’s great to see it nominated in so many categories.”

The nominations for Baby Reindeer include a leading actor nod for Scottish comedian and writer Richard Gadd, the show’s creator, as well as a supporting actress nomination for Jessica Gunning, who has already won a prestigious Screen Actors Guild (SAG) award, as well as a Emmy and Golden Globe for her role in the series.

The Netflix hit, said to be inspired by the real-life experiences of Gadd, sees his character Donny being stalked by a woman called Martha, played by Gunning, after he serves her a free cup of tea in the pub where he works.

Baby Reindeer, which is also nominated in the limited drama category, has hit headlines since being released on Netflix last year, due to a woman claiming to be the “real” Martha coming forward to bring a lawsuit against the streaming company.

Also nominated is trans actress Nava Mau, in the supporting actress category, for her role in Baby Reindeer as Teri, Donny’s girlfriend, a category which has also seen Katherine Parkinson nominated for Rivals, Maxine Peake for Say Nothing, Monica Dolan for Sherwood and Sue Johnston for Channel 4 drama Truelove.

Dolan, who played subpostmistress Jo Hamilton in the ITV drama, is also nominated in the leading actress category for her role in the show which highlighted the plight of more than 700 subpostmasters were prosecuted by the Post Office and given criminal convictions between 1999 and 2015, as Fujitsu’s faulty system made it appear as though money was missing at their branches.

Millichip said of the show: “It was a huge zeitgeist show really, and it’s really important that we see dramas tap into stories of real kind of emotional and societal interest, and tremendous drama.

“It’s great to see Mr Bates Vs The Post Office receiving so many nominations, a drama that’s driving real social change.”

Other nominees in the leading actress category include Anna Maxwell Martin for her role in ITV’s Until I Kill You, which told the true story of Delia Balmer (Maxwell Martin), who survived a near-fatal relationship with murderer John Sweeney (Shaun Evans).

Actress Billie Piper is nominated for Netflix’s Scoop, which sees her play Sam McAlister, the producer who secured the infamous Newsnight interview with the Duke of York, while Marisa Abela is nominated for Industry, Lola Petticrew for Say Nothing and Sharon D Clarke for Mr Loverman, the BBC series based on the acclaimed 2013 novel by the Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo.

Also nominated for their role in Mr Loverman is Lennie James, in the leading actor category alongside David Tennant for Rivals, Oldman for Slow Horses, Martin Freeman for The Responder, Gadd for Baby Reindeer and Toby Jones for his role as former subpostmaster Sir Alan Bates, one of more than 550 claimants who took legal action against the Post Office.

Apple TV+’s spy thriller series Slow Horses also sees Christopher Chung and Jonathan Pryce nominated in the supporting actor category, alongside Ariyon Bakare for Mr Loverman, Damian Lewis for Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, McKinley Belcher III for Eric and Sonny Walker for Channel 4’s The Gathering.

The nominations, which are across both the TV and craft categories, also see BBC programme Life and Death in Gaza (Storyville) and FX’s limited original series Say Nothing, which streamed on Disney+, and is described as a “gripping story of murder and memory in Northern Ireland during The Troubles”, nominated in four categories.

BBC programme The Traitors has a nomination for Claudia Winkleman in the entertainment performance category and has also been nominated in the reality category, alongside Love is Blind, Dragons’ Den and The Jury: Murder Trial.

Up against presenter Winkleman in the entertainment performance category is Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly for ITV’s Saturday Night Takeaway, which last year saw the duo present the final episode of the 20th series, after it was announced they would be taking a break from the show.

TV presenter Graham Norton is nominated in the category for The Graham Norton Show, Joe Lycett for Late Night Lycett, Romesh Ranganathan and Rob Beckett for Rob and Romesh Vs, and Stacey Solomon for BBC’s Sort Your Life Out.

Popular BBC show Gavin and Stacey, which returned on Christmas Day for a final episode, has a nomination for Ruth Jones in the female performance in a comedy category, and it is also among the shows up for the memorable moment award.

The award is voted on by the public and aims to celebrate the most impactful parts of the year’s television.

For that category, Strictly Come Dancing received one nod for 2024 winner Chris McCausland’s performance to You’ll Never Walk Alone with professional partner Dianne Buswell along with TV craft nominations.

However, the BBC celebrity dancing programme did not receive a nod for best entertainment show, which it won last year and has been nominated for every year since 2019, also being nominated in other years, and picking up the gong in 2020 and 2016.

It comes following former contestants raising duty of care issues, and the BBC introducing chaperones for rehearsals.

Elsewhere, BBC show Freddie Flintoff’s Field Of Dreams On Tour will compete against true crime documentaries – Netflix’s American Nightmare, and Channel 4’s The Push: Murder On The Cliff, and To Catch A Copper for factual series.

Former cricketer Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff took part in the second series of the show following his recovery from a Top Gear car crash.

Daytime nominations include travel programme Clive Myrie’s Caribbean Treasures, talk shows Loose Women and Morning Live, and knowledge challenge series Richard Osman’s House of Games.

Nicola Coughlan has received her first Bafta nomination for her role in Channel 4’s Big Mood for female performance in a comedy.

In an Instagram post after the nomination, she said: “Holy moly I’ve been nominated for a BAFTA, I’ve tried to write a long caption but I’m too overwhelmed and excited and emotional to explain how much it means to me so please enjoy.”

She included a number of photos, including one of her “ringing my mum and getting to tell her forehead the news”, and another of “some of the Big Mood family who have now become friends for life”.

A post shared by Nicola Coughlan (@nicolacoughlan)

Notably absent from the nominations was Sir Mark Rylance, who played scheming king’s adviser Thomas Cromwell in the latest series of Wolf Hall, and had previously won the leading actor for the same show in 2016.

The Bafta Television Craft Awards, hosted by Stacey Dooley, will take place on Sunday April 27, with the Bafta Television Awards with P&O Cruises hosted by Alan Cumming, taking place on May 11 and broadcast on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.