BAFTA says older white women count as diversity as it defends sharp drop in TV nominations for people of colour

BAFTA celebrated the number of older white women nominated for best actress at the Television Awards amid a sharp decline in ethnic diversity on performance shortlists.

All six lead actress nominees are white, with some saying Ambika Mod was overlooked for her performance in the BBC/AMC series It will hurtleads the hunt for a bronze mask with a total of six nominations.

Asked if BAFTA was hoping for a different outcome, chief executive Jane Millichip said: “There is representation in this category in the fact that it is exceptional given the ages of the actresses and the roles that have been written for them . We’ve been arguing about this for a long time in the TV and film world: Are the roles written for women over 40? It’s a really impressive result.”

Imelda Staunton (67) was nominated for her role as Queen Elizabeth II The crown. Other nominees include Kate Winslet (47) for I am RuthBillie Piper (40) in front I hate Suzie tooMaxine Peake (48) in front anne, Sarah Lancashire (58) for Juliaand Vicky McClure (39) for it Without sin.

All six actresses are BAFTA favourites. Staunton won a BAFTA in 2005 and has been nominated three more times; Winslett has three wins and five previous nominations; Lancashire have two wins and three other nominations; McClure has one win and two previous nominations; Peake has two previous nominations; Piper also has two screen names.

Sara Putt, BAFTA vice-chair and television committee chair, said all the female nominees “deserve” their place on the shortlist.

Mod was not featured, although he was recognized at other award shows. She was nominated for Supporting Actress at the Royal Television Society Awards, while the Broadcasting Press Guild nominated her for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

Her absence comes amid a major decline in ethnic diversity in performance categories at the BAFTA Television Awards. More than 40% of the nominees have had an ethnic background in the past two years, but this year it is down to 24%.

BAFTA said this was in line with industry benchmarks and higher than the national population distribution at the 2021 census. Among the early nominees were Chaske Spencer for The English and Adelayo Adedayo The responder.

Putt said: “We are part of an ecosystem and we are at the end of this pipeline. Our awards are a barometer of what’s going on in the industry… We take the data and statistics from this year’s awards – nominations and winners – and they will be part of our conversations about what to do next year. It’s an ongoing conversation.”

The decline in ethnic diversity follows concerns over the BAFTA film awards, when 47 of the 49 winners were white. The only black star on stage was co-presenter Alison Hammond.