BAFTA preview

Chasing a record eleventh BAFTA, Dame Judi Dench has just hours until she discovers if she has beaten her co-star and fellow septuagenarian Eileen Atkins. The two, both 73-years-old, are nominated in the Best Actress category at this year’s TV awards, for their parts in acclaimed BBC1 series, Cranford. The programme, set in the 1840s, has dominated this year’s British Academy of Film and Television Awards shortlist and is competing for four awards, one for Drama Series, another for Programme of the Year and two for its female stars.

Dame Judi’s nomination is her 24th from the Academy, an all-time record, and she is 8/13 favourite to win, with Paddy Power bookmakers, just ahead of Atkins who is at 2/1. The prolific actress already has more of Bafta’s famous mask trophies than anybody else, including four she won for her TV work, five for big-screen performances, and another received when she was presented with a Bafta fellowship. However for Atkins, the TV nomination is her first since 1969. The Grandes Dames are up against former BAFTA winner Gina McKee for The Street, and Kierston Wareing for It's A Free World.

Bruce Forsyth will be presented with an Academy Fellowship by comedian Paul Merton, in recognition of his decades on the small screen. John Willis, BAFTAs TV Committee Chair said: “Bruce Forsyth has been keeping viewers of all ages entertained for decades. He is the ultimate all round entertainer. Just after his 80th birthday is the perfect time for BAFTA to recognize his huge contribution to popular television by awarding Bruce a very well deserved Fellowship.”

However the awards give a nod to youth too, especially in the Best Actor category, with all four nominees newcomers to the BAFTA shortlist. Andrew Garfield, lauded for his performance in the Channel 4 film Boy A, is up against Tom Hardy for the critically-acclaimed Stuart: A Life Backwards, 5/4 favourite Matthew Macfadyen for his role as a sex offender in Secret Life, and Antony Sher for Primo, set in Auschwitz.

In the Entertainment Programme category, the makers of Britain’s Got Talent – the show that turned opera singer Paul Potts from a supermarket worker to a national hero, will hope to earn full marks from the judges against three-times-nominated, and this year’s favourite, Strictly Come Dancing. The high-rating reality shows will compete against Harry Hill’s TV Burp and Have I Got News for You. The political quiz show’s nomination is a record 24th for a single show.

Perennial favourite Coronation Street was snubbed in this year’s Continuing Drama nominations, in favour of The Bill, Emmerdale, Holby City and EastEnders, which is tipped to win. ITV, which screens the soap, emerged at the back of the pack in terms of nominations by channel. It received just 12, compared to 20 for the BBC and 23 for the frontrunning Channel 4.

Three of ITV’s nominations came in the Sport category. The Boat Race, Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix and the England v France Rugby World Cup semi-final face BBC’s coverage of the 2007 Men’s Wimbledon Final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, nominated for the first time since Bjorn Borg faced John McEnroe in 1980.

Graham Norton will compere the ceremony at the London Palladium on Sunday, and will be joined in presenting the awards by a string of famous faces from TV drama, and Heston Blumenthal. The ‘culinary alchemist’ and head chef of the Michelin-starred Fat Duck restaurant, is nominated in the Features category for Heston Blumenthal: In Search of Perfection, nominated alongside culinary opponent Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, The Secret Millionaire and Top Gear.

Life on Mars, the show that spawned nostalgia for the 1970s, and made a hero of DCI Gene Hunt, will compete for the Drama series gong alongside teenage-focused Skins, the epic drama Rome and last year’s winner The Street.

The Entertainment Performance and Comedy Performance categories are dominated by men. In the former, Simon Amstell was nominated for the music quiz show Never Mind The Buzzcocks, alongside Alan Carr and Justin Lee Collins for The Friday Night Project, Stephen Fry for QI and Harry Hill for Harry Hill’s TV Burp.

Comedy Performance competitors are Stephen Merchant for Extras Christmas Special, David Mitchell for Peep Show, James Corden for Gavin and Stacey, and Peter Capaldi, for The Thick of It. The satirical take on inner-government working has not faltered since the departure of Chris Langham and is also nominated in the Situation Comedy category.