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Alison Graham's Bafta TV predictions

Alison Graham's Bafta TV predictions
  • Posted at 4:31pm
  • 24 April 2009
  • by AlisonGraham-RT

Who deserves to take home a TV Bafta this year? Ahead of the British Academy Television Awards (Sunday 26, 8:00pm, BBC1), Radio Times TV editor Alison Graham runs her critical eye over the 2009 nominees…

ACTOR

Nominees: Stephen Dillane The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall C4; Jason Isaacs The Curse of Steptoe BBC4; Ken Stott Hancock and Joan BBC4; Ben Whishaw Criminal Justice BBC1

TV editor's pick: Ben Whishaw
Arguably the strongest line-up of the night, with towering performances by three experienced actors. But Ben Whishaw deserves the prize for his turn as a terrified, innocent young man wrongly convicted of murder.

ACTRESS

Nominees: June Brown EastEnders BBC1; Anna Maxwell Martin Poppy Shakespeare C4; Maxine Peake Hancock and Joan BBC4; Andrea Riseborough The Long Walk to Finchley BBC4

TV editor's pick: Andrea Riseborough
A tough one, because June Brown could deservedly win for her bravura monologue as Dot Branning, taping a heartbreaking message for her ailing husband. But Riseborough is an up-and-coming young star who's a name to watch.

ENTERTAINMENT PERFORMANCE

Nominees: Stephen Fry QI BBC2; Harry Hill Harry Hill's TV Burp ITV1; Antony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! ITV1; Jonathan Ross Friday Night with Jonathan Ross BBC1

TV editor's pick: Harry Hill
Harry Hill could do it again, as TV Burp is ITV1's best comedy and a hugely successful Saturday-night staple. But the jury could be cheeky and give the gong to disgraced Jonathan Ross.

COMEDY PERFORMANCE

Nominees: Rob Brydon Gavin and Stacey BBC3; Sharon Horgan Pulling BBC3; David Mitchell Peep Show C4; Claire Skinner Outnumbered BBC1

TV editor's pick: Sharon Horgan
All three of Outnumbered's brilliant child actors should be on this list; nominating screen mum Claire Skinner makes no sense. But in their absence, it must go to Horgan, writer and star of the filthy, funny and criminally axed (by BBC3) Pulling.

SINGLE DRAMA

Nominees: Einstein and Eddington BBC2; Hancock and Joan BBC4; The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall C4; White Girl BBC2

TV editor's pick: The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall
The story of the death of a young peace activist, shot by an Israeli soldier in Gaza, was enormously affecting, thanks to strong performances, a superb script by Simon Block and Rowan Joffe's assured direction. Nothing else here even comes close.

DRAMA SERIES

Nominees: Doctor Who BBC1; Shameless C4; Spooks BBC1; Wallander BBC1

TV editor's pick: Wallander
I served on this jury and though I must stress I don't know the outcome as we voted in secret, my purely personal favourite is Wallander (though I love Spooks), which deserves recognition for having the courage to step out of the crime drama mainstream into the darkness of Henning Mankell's novels.

DRAMA SERIAL

Nominees: Criminal Justice BBC1; Dead Set C4; The Devil's Whore C4; House of Saddam BBC2

TV editor's pick: Criminal Justice
A win for no other reason than it was a very bold concept - five consecutive nights following a murder from arrest to conviction and beyond. Gripping, despite a weak, perfunctory ending. The Devil's Whore might sneak in, though.

CONTINUING DRAMA

Nominees: The Bill ITV1; Casualty BBC1; EastEnders BBC1; Emmerdale ITV1

TV editor's pick: EastEnders
What? For the second year running no nomination for Coronation Street? What nonsense. So, in a category that's shamefully incomplete, I might as well go for EastEnders for no particular reason.

INTERNATIONAL

Nominees: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart More4; Dexter ITV1; Mad Men BBC4; The Wire FX

TV editor's pick: Mad Men
It has to be Mad Men, I won't accept any other result, though every critic's darling (apart from mine) The Wire might triumph. But Matthew Weiner's mesmerising tale of drinking, smoking, fornicating 1960s New York ad men was a once-in-a-TV-lifetime thing of beauty.

FACTUAL SERIES

Nominees: Amazon with Bruce Parry BBC2; Blood Sweat and T-Shirts BBC3; The Family C4; Ross Kemp in Afghanistan Sky 1

TV editor's pick: Amazon with Bruce Parry
This is such an open category it's anyone's guess. I hope The Family won't take the title, and Ross Kemp, a previous winner, could do it again with his well-received series. But let's go for Bruce Parry, who should have won last year.

SPECIALIST FACTUAL

Nominees: Blood and Guts: a History of Surgery BBC4; Life in Cold Blood BBC1; Lost Land of the Jaguar BBC1; Stephen Fry and the Gutenberg Press

TV editor's pick: Life in Cold Blood
It's David Attenborough - what else is there to say? In the final instalment of his epic look at life on Earth, the great communicator was as riveting, inclusive, intelligent and just brilliant as always. There's no-one like him.

SINGLE DOCUMENTARY

Nominees A Boy Called Alex C4; Chosen C4; The Fallen BBC2; Thriller in Manila More4

TV editor's pick: The Fallen
I have a soft spot for A Boy Called Alex, the inspirational story of a gifted pianist living with cystic fibrosis. But The Fallen covered such a huge subject of contemporary relevance - the honouring of British troops killed in the Iraq and Afghan wars - it has to take the crown.

FEATURES

Nominees: The Apprentice BBC1; Celebrity MasterChef BBC1; The Choir: Boys Don't Sing BBC2; Top Gear BBC2

TV editor's pick: The Apprentice
…though it could be the inspirational Gareth Malone again for the second instalment of The Choir; this is such a hard category to judge. But previous winner The Apprentice has turned into such an entertainment juggernaut it may just seize the prize.

CURRENT AFFAIRS

Nominees: Saving Africa's Witch Children C4; Mum Loves Drugs, Not Me C4; Omagh: What the Police Were Never Told BBC1; Ross Kemp: A Kenya Special Sky1

TV editor's pick: Mum Loves Drugs, Not Me
A Dispatches episode that let us into the turbulent, sad worlds of children and their drug-addicted mothers. Hard to watch, it was an unflinching portrait of the neglected youngsters forced to live amid their parents' chaos.

ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMME

Nominees: Friday/Sunday Night Project C4; Harry Hill's TV Burp ITV1; QI BBC1; The X Factor ITV1

TV editor's pick: The X Factor
A light-entertainment monster destroying everything in its path. Resistance to The X Factor is futile, it's so brilliantly well made, complete with tears, triumphs and tragedies.

COMEDY PROGRAMME

Nominees: Harry and Paul BBC1; The Peter Serafinowicz Show BBC2; Star Stories C4; That Mitchell and Web Look BBC2

TV editor's pick: That Mitchell and Webb Look
Mmm… a bit of a limp category. What's the dismal Star Stories doing here, unaccountably nominated for the second year on the trot? Peter Serafinowicz's show was patchy, and Harry and Paul didn't set the world alight. But then, neither did That Mitchell and Webb Look. Still, the boys are everywhere, which might stand them in good stead.

SITUATION COMEDY

Nominees: The Inbetweeners C4; The IT Crowd C4; Outnumbered BBC1; Peep Show C4

TV editor's pick: Outnumbered
The Inbetweeners? You have got to be joking. Outnumbered shines because of its brilliant young performers, who stole every scene from their hapless screen parents Claire Skinner and Hugh Dennis. And it was a funny, wry series - My Family with laughs.

AUDIENCE AWARDS

Nominees: The Apprentice BBC1; Coronation Street ITV1; Outnumbered BBC1; Skins E4; Wallander BBC1; The X Factor ITV1

TV editor's pick: The X Factor
Gavin and Stacey was the surprise Audience Award winner last year, so on the basis that it won because its young following know how to text their votes, then Skins could be in with a shout. But out of all of these, The X Factor probably has the widest, across-the-board, multi-generational appeal.

Do you agree with Alison's predictions and choices? Post a comment and share your own picks below.

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