'A victory for mature women': Bafta defends all-white best actress shortlist

Anita Singh
·3 min read
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Imelda Staunton, 67, pictured as Queen Elizabeth II in the last series of The Crown, has been nominated as best actress for the role - Keith Bernstein/Netflix
Imelda Staunton, 67, pictured as Queen Elizabeth II in the last series of The Crown, has been nominated as best actress for the role - Keith Bernstein/Netflix

Bafta has defended its all-white shortlist for best actress at this year’s TV awards, saying it represents a triumph for “mature” women.

Vicky McClure is a mere 39 and Billie Piper is 40. They share the nominees' list with Kate Winslet, 47, and Maxine Peake, 48. The oldest actresses on the list are Sarah Lancashire, 58, and Imelda Staunton, 67.

Bafta has faced criticism in recent years for a lack of ethnic diversity in its shortlists. This year is no exception but Jane Millichip, the chief executive of Bafta, said of the leading actress list: “The most remarkable thing is the age of those actors and the maturity of the roles that were written for them.”

Staunton was nominated for her role as Queen Elizabeth II in the last series of The Crown, while Lancashire was nominated for Julia, a biopic of the American chef Julia Child.

Three of the actresses were shortlisted for playing mothers: Peake as bereaved Hillsborough campaigner Anne Williams in Anne, Winslet as the parent of a troubled teen in I Am Ruth, and McClure as a woman whose daughter was murdered in Without Sin.

Billie Piper reprised her role as a chaotic actress whose career has imploded in I Hate Suzie Too.

Billie Piper, pictured, has been nominated for her role as a dysfunctional actress in I Hate Suzie Too - Tom Beard/Sky UK
Billie Piper, pictured, has been nominated for her role as a dysfunctional actress in I Hate Suzie Too - Tom Beard/Sky UK

In 2021, Bafta was criticised for choosing a leading actress shortlist in which Billie Piper was the oldest nominee at 38.

The leading actor category has one non-white nominee: Chaske Spencer, an American actor who starred in revisionist western The English.

The other contenders are Ben Whishaw for This Is Going To Hurt, Cillian Murphy for Peaky Blinders, Gary Oldman for Slow Horses, Martin Freeman for The Responder and Taron Egerton for Black Bird.

This Is Going to Hurt, Adam Kay’s NHS drama, leads the nominations alongside The Responder, a bleak police drama.

Bafta said that shows about the medical profession, emergency services, corruption and true crime had a strong showing across fiction and non-fiction categories this year with “a broad range of stories representing the diversity of Britain”.

Sara Putt, deputy chairman of Bafta, said of the organisation’s ongoing quest for diversity: “Every year after the awards we take all of the stats back, we look at them, we analyse them, we discuss what we need to do and are we fit for purpose.

“It’s an ongoing conversation and we need to keep diversity in all its forms at the front of our minds.

“We are a barometer of the industry. We reflect what’s out there, what’s being made, and the performances there have been during that year.”

There is a strong showing for royal programming this year, with nominations for the BBC’s coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and the Platinum Jubilee Party at the Palace; a special edition of The Repair Shop featuring the King; and The Crown, which also had a nomination for Salim Daw as Mohamed Al-Fayed.

The awards will take place on Sunday May 14, hosted by Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan.