Adolescence Leads BAFTA TV Awards Race as Mary Berry and Martin Lewis Honoured

Adolescence emerged as the clear front-runner in the 2026 BAFTA Television Awards race with 11 nominations, while Dame Mary Berry DBE and Martin Lewis CBE were set to receive special honours at the ceremony in London.

The awards will take place at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on Sunday, 10 May 2026, and will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from 7pm. BAFTA said the prizes recognise television broadcast in 2025, a year that produced 124 nominated programmes and a field that reflects how sharply British viewing habits have shifted.

The nomination list points to a television landscape being pulled in several directions at once. Adolescence, a youth drama with a large haul, signals the continuing appetite for urgent, character-driven stories about younger lives. Amandaland was among the main comedy contenders, showing that audiences still respond to well-known comic worlds. At the same time, The Celebrity Traitors kept reality and event television firmly in the frame, while A Thousand Blows, Andor and Trespasses highlighted the power of streaming-era storytelling and high-end serial drama that travels well beyond one broadcaster’s schedule.

That mix is also visible in the performance categories. BAFTA said 21 of the 44 performance nominees were first-time BAFTA TV performance nominees, with names including Owen Cooper, Erin Doherty, Ashley Walters, Christine Tremarco, Lucy Punch and Philippa Dunne. The breadth of new acting talent suggests a year in which fresh faces broke through alongside established stars, and where casting across drama and comedy remained one of British television’s clearest strengths.

Greg Davies will host the ceremony, with performers Cat Burns and AURORA also confirmed for the night. BAFTA said attendees will include Alan Carr, Claudia Winkleman, Jennifer Saunders, Louis Theroux, Malachi Kirby, Matt Smith, Seth Rogen and Stephen Graham, underlining the ceremony’s reach across comedy, factual television, drama and international streaming hits.

The only public-voted prize, the P&O Cruises Memorable Moment Award, closed for voting on 22 April 2026 at 21.00. Chosen from a shortlist compiled by an independent jury chaired by Hilary Rosen, it remains the category most directly tied to the audience itself, a reminder that BAFTA’s biggest night is also measuring what viewers actually remember, not just what critics admire.