British Academy Television Award for Best Actress
| British Academy Television Award for Best Actress | |
|---|---|
 2024 Recipient: Sarah Lancashire | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Presented by | British Academy of Film and Television Arts |
| First awarded | 1954 (presented 1955) |
| Currently held by | Sarah Lancashire for Happy Valley (2024) |
| Website | Official website |
This is a list of the British Academy Television Awards for Best Actress. The British Academy Television Awards began in 1955. The Best Actress award was initially given as an "individual honour", without credit to a particular performance, until 1969, when Wendy Craig won for her performance in Not in Front of the Children. Since 1970, nominees have been announced in addition to the winner, and are listed, with the winner highlighted in blue. The Actress category was split into Leading Actress and Supporting Actress, starting in 2010.
Julie Walters holds the record of most wins in this category with four, followed by Dame Judi Dench, Thora Hird, and Dame Helen Mirren, with three wins each. The nominations tally includes Helen Mirren and Francesca Annis having received 6 and Judi Dench and Julie Walters having received 7. The award is currently held by Sarah Lancashire having won most recently in 2024 for Happy Valley.
Winners and nominees
1950s
| Year | Actress |
|---|---|
| 1955 (1st) | |
| Googie Withers | |
| 1956 (2nd) | |
| Virginia McKenna | |
| 1957 (3rd) | |
| Rosalie Crutchley | |
| 1958 (4th) | |
| Not awarded | |
| 1959 (5th) | |
| Gwen Watford |
1960s
| Year | Actress | Work(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 (6th) | ||
| Catherine Lacey | ||
| 1961 (7th) | ||
| Billie Whitelaw | ||
| 1962 (8th) | ||
| Ruth Dunning | ||
| 1963 (9th) | ||
| Brenda Bruce | ||
| 1964 (10th) | ||
| Vivien Merchant | ||
| 1965 (11th) | ||
| Katharine Blake | ||
| 1966[1] (12th) | ||
| Gwen Watford | The Cesar Birotteau/Madam/End Of Term/Take Care Of Madam/The Rules Of The Game | |
| Peggy Ashcroft | The Wars of the Roses/Rosmersholm | |
| June Barry | Four of Hearts - Tilt/Twice Upon a Time/Progress to the Park/No Trams to Lime Street | |
| Vivien Merchant | The Tea Party | |
| Moira Redmond | Anatol/The Late Edwina Black/Challenge/R-3 Series/A Tall Stalwart Lancer | |
| 1967 (13th) | ||
| Vanessa Redgrave | ||
| 1968 (14th) | ||
| Judi Dench | Talking to a Stranger | |
| 1969 (15th) | ||
| Wendy Craig | Not in Front of the Children | |
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
Superlatives
| Record | Actress | Programme | Age (in years) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oldest winner | Thora Hird | Lost for Words | 89 |
| Oldest nominee | |||
| Youngest winner | Molly Windsor | Three Girls | 20 |
| Youngest nominee |
Actresses with multiple wins and nominations
Multiple wins
The following people have been awarded the British Academy Television Award for Actress multiple times:
|
4 wins 3 wins |
2 wins
|
Multiple nominations
The following people have been nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Actress multiple times:
Note: Julie Walters' two mentions in 2010, count as two separate nominations.
References
- ^ "Television - 1995". British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Retrieved 26 February 2021.
- ^ "Television - 2020". British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Retrieved 26 February 2021.
- ^ "BAFTA TV 2021: Nominations for the Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards and British Academy Television Craft Awards". www.bafta.org. 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
- ^ "Bafta TV awards 2022: full list of nominations". The Guardian. 30 March 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- ^ Ritman, Alex (22 March 2023). "BAFTA TV Awards: 'This is Going to Hurt,' 'The Responder' Lead Pack of Nominees". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ "Bafta TV awards 2023: the full list of winners". Guardian. 14 May 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ^ "BAFTA TV Awards 2024: Nominations". BBC. Retrieved March 20, 2024.