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 nominees for lead actresses are white and have received multiple BAFTA nominations in film and television in the past.
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.”
BAFTA later clarified that Millichip referred to the “representation” of older women as a separate diversity issue, related to ethnicity and socio-economic background, among other things.
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.
Some said that Ambika Mod was overlooked because of her appearance in BBC/AMC series It will hurtleads the hunt for a bronze mask with a total of six nominations.
Mod 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.
Deadline believes she was nominated for Supporting Actress instead of Lead at the BAFTAs. Three women of color were nominated in the Supporting Actress category: Adelayo Adedayo (The responder), Jasmine Jobson (big boy) and Saffron Hocking (big boy).
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%. According to BAFTA, this is in line with industry benchmarks and higher than the national population distribution at the 2021 census.
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.”
She added: ‘What I’m really excited about are the interventions we did last year; We have much better representation of women in craft awards, with directors, more female technicians, a 50/50 gender representation in the entertainment show category.
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.
Source: Deadline
Ashley Root is an author and celebrity journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a keen eye for all things celebrity, Ashley is always up-to-date on the latest gossip and trends in the world of entertainment.
