It’s still over a month away but excitement is already brewing for this year’s British Academy Television Awards, as the nominations are announced. The one to beat is the BBC’s period drama Cranford, with the show’s stars Dame Judi Dench and Dame Eileen Atkins both up for the Best Actress award. Interestingly Coronation Street is omitted from the Continuing Drama category, while Stephen Merchant is acknowledged for his work in the Extras Christmas Special but not star Ricky Gervais. New sitcom on the block Gavin + Stacey is up for two prizes, while the BBC’s popular Strictly Come Dancing is competing in three categories.

For those of you keen to have your say on proceedings, the Programme of the Year is open to a public vote. The contenders are Andrew Marr’s History of Modern Britain, The Apprentice, Britain’s Got Talent, Cranford, Gavin + Stacey and Strictly Come Dancing. To pick a favourite head on over to www.bestonthebox.com. We won’t know the winners and losers until the big bash on April 20th, but for the full list of nominees head on over to the Radio Times website.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 at 7:27 am and is filed under TV/Films. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.