Gemma Arterton nominated for a Broadcasting Press Guild award

Press Release
Kenneth Branagh, David Tennant and Ben Whishaw have been shortlisted for the Best Actor award in the 35th annual Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, to be presented next month at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

Branagh has been nominated for his role as Kurt Wallander, the Swedish detective in the Wallander series. Tennant is named for two roles, as the Doctor in Doctor Who and the British astronomer Arthur Eddington in the single drama Einstein and Eddington. Ben Whishaw is nominated for playing Ben Coulter in the five-part series Criminal Justice.

The highly-prized Broadcasting Press Guild awards are selected by journalists who write about TV and radio - correspondents, critics and previewers. Previous Best Actor winners include Sir Alec Guinness, Albert Finney, Charles Dance, Robert Hardy, Tim Pigott-Smith, Jim Broadbent, Christopher Ecclestone, Philip Glenister and Colin Firth (see www.broadcastingpressguild.org for more details.)

In the Best Actress category, Andrea Riseborough is nominated for lead roles in two productions - Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley and The Devil’s Whore. She’ll compete with Gemma Arterton (Tess), Ruth Jones (Gavin & Stacey, Little Dorrit and Tess) and Julie Walters for Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story.

Three BBC Four dramas will compete for the best single drama award: The Curse of Steptoe; Hughie Green, Most Sincerely; and Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley. The other contenders are Einstein & Eddington (BBC Two) and The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (BBC One).

The drama series shortlist is dominated by BBC One, which has Criminal Justice, Little Dorrit and Wallander competing with Channel 4’s The Devil’s Whore.

In the writer’s category, Andrew Davies is nominated for three dramas: Little Dorrrit, Sense & Sensibility and Affinity. Peter Moffatt is nominated for two productions, Criminal Justice and Sense & Sensibility. Peter Flannery is named for The Devil’s Whore, and Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin are nominated for the comedy series, Outnumbered.

Outnumbered is also in contention for the best comedy/entertainment award, competing against Gavin & Stacey, Harry Hill’s TV Burp and Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death.

Jamie Oliver is up against Sir Alan Sugar, as Jamie’s Ministry of Food vies with The Apprentice for the factual entertainment award. The other two contenders are Dragons’ Den and The Choir: Boys Don’t Sing.

Robert Peston (BBC News) will compete with John Sergeant (Strictly Come Dancing), Stephen Fry (QI and Stephen Fry in America) and Cheryl Cole (The X Factor, ITV) in the best non-acting performer category.

Simon Schama (The American Future) will compete with Boris Johnson (After Rome: Holy War and Conquest) and Ross Kemp in Afghanistan in the best documentary/factual series category. The other contenders are Amazon with Bruce Parry and The Genius of Charles Darwin.

The single documentary award will be a contest between Arena: The Agony and Ecstasy of Phil Spector; Michael Portillo: Death of a School Friend; My Street; and Pedigree Dogs Exposed.

The shortlist for radio broadcaster of the year consists of Evan Davis (Today, The Bottom Line, BBC Radio 4), Eddie Mair (PM, BBC Radio 4), Colin Murray (BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 5 Live); Ed Stourton (Today and other programmes, BBC Radio 4) and Kirsty Young (Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4).

The nominations for radio programme of the year are Adam and Joe (BBC 6Music); Front Row (BBC Radio 4); In Our Time (BBC Radio 4); Late Junction (BBC Radio 3); Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie (BBC Radio 2).

The winners will be announced at the BPG Awards lunch at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on Friday March 27, 2009, together with the multichannel award, the innovation award and the Harvey Lee award for outstanding contribution to broadcasting.

The Awards are sponsored for the third year running by Turner Broadcasting, which delivers some of the world’s most successful and well-known news and entertainment brands – CNN, Cartoon Network, CN Too, Boomerang, Cartoonito, TCM (Turner Classic Movies), and Adult Swim.

Winners will be informed in advance and places at the lunch are by invitation only.

Thanks to `lorna99` for the alert.

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