BAFTA Television Awards 2020 nominations: Chernobyl sweeps the board with 14 nods

The nominations for the BAFTA Television Awards 2020 have been announced.

Explosive HBO show Chernobyl leads the nods with a staggering 14 nominations, while The Crown and Fleabag have racked up a respectable seven and six nominations.    

Chernobyl is the explosive HBO show that has taken the world by storm and scored a higher IMDb than Game Of Thrones and Breaking Bad.

The five-part series follows an investigative commission appointed in the wake of the devastating nuclear accident on April 26, 1986.

The show has been lauded as a harrowing and realistic account of those who battled to save the world from the toxic radiation emitting from the plant’s Reactor Four.   

Chernobyl has received nominations in the Costume Design, Director Fiction, Editing Fiction, Make-up & Hair Design, Original Music, Photography & Lighting Fiction, Production Design, Scripted Casting, Sound Fiction, Special, Visual & Graphic Effects, Writer Drama, and Mini-Series categories.

Actors Jared Harris and Stellan Skarsgard have been recognised in the Leading Actor and Supporting Actor categories.       

The BAFTA Television Awards 2020 announced the nominees for the Must-See Moment category on Wednesday.

The conclusion to last year’s Gavin and Stacey Christmas special, in which Ruth Jones’ character Nessa proposed to James Corden’s alter-ego Smithy, is among the contenders in the shortlist, which is voted for by the British public.

Line Of Duty’s shock killing of undercover police officer John Corbett, played by Stephen Graham, is up for the award, while the scene where Arya Stark kills the Night King in the final season of Game Of Thrones also got a nod.     

Michael Griffiths’ post-Casa Amor recoupling on last summer’s edition of the ITV2 reality show Love Island has also been shortlisted, and is the only reality show to have been selected in the category.

While the sad passing of Coronation Street character Sinead Osbourne – portrayed by Katie McGlynn – from cervical cancer also received a nod. 

Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag completes the shortlist, for the scene where her titular character visits the hot priest in his church, which ends up being a catalyst in their relationship. 

The awards show will be held in a closed studio on July 31, and in accordance with government guidelines amid the coronavirus crisis the ceremony will be socially distanced with nominees accepting their prizes virtually.

Broadcast live on BBC One from the studio, actor Richard Ayoade is set to host the show whilst following social distancing rules. 

Last year’s awards show saw the likes of Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Jodie Comer win for Killing Eve, while Benedict Cumberbatch earned the prize for Leading Actor for his work in the Sky miniseries Patrick Melrose. 

 The shortlist was selected by an independent BAFTA-approved jury of media experts, with BAFTA Television Committee Chair Hannah Wyatt heading the group.  

The winner of this year’s Must-See Moment award will be revealed on Friday July 31st when the 2020 Virgin Media British Television Academy Awards airs on BBC One. 

Members of the public can vote for their favourite Must-See Moment online at www.virginmedia.com/bafta.