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🎭 Mawaan Rizwan nominated in three categories – Male Performance in a comedy; Writer – Comedy; and Emerging Talent Fiction
🎭 Anjana Vasan – Leading Actress for Demon 79, part of Black Mirror series (more below) – Also episode has nomination in Limited Drama category and several Bafta TV Craft categories
🎭 Taj Atwal – Female Performance in a Comedy for Hullraisers
🎭 Amit Shah – Supporting Actor for Happy Valley
🎭 Bisha K Ali – Writer Drama with Charlie Brooker on Demon 79
MAWAAN RIZWAN was the standout name as the Bafta TV and Bafta Craft TV awards were announced yesterday – he appeared in three separate nomination categories. He has yet to react to the nominations at the time of publishing.
Rizwan wrote and starred in ‘Juice’ – a high octane comedy drama series centred around Jamal ‘Jamma’ Jamshidi (Rizwan himself) who is navigating life’s trials and tribulations alongside his family and boyfriend (Russell Tovey) – his mother and brother in the series are actually played by his real actor mother – Shahnaz – and real brother actor – Nabhaan – Rizwan. The six episodes of this original series were broadcast in the autumn of last year. On X, he reposted the Bafta nominations without commenting and reposted a plug and congratulations from The Comedian’s Comedian Podcast in which he appeared recently and jointly posted an excerpt from the show on Instagram yesterday (March 20).
Several media personalities and actors recognised Anjana Vasan’s nomination after she posted about it on her Instagram account. TV presenter and broadcaster Anita Rani and actors Shobna Gulati and Priya Kansara (‘Polite Society’) were among those congratulating Vasan.
Vasan herself commented: “I cannot and will pretend to be chill about 7 (!!!) nominations for Demon 79 and said there was an “extra dollop” of love for writer Bisha K Ali, director Toby Haynes, co-star Paapa Essiedu (who was also nominated as Leading Actor for ‘The Lazarus Project’) and showrunner and co-writer Charlie Brooker, calling them “mad, brilliant geniuses”. She also said she would walk into “eternal oblivion” for the “exceptional cast and team”, tagging several in her post. The show is also nominated for Photography & Lighting; Production Design; Scripted Casting. Vasan plays Nida who accidentally lets out a demon – Gaap (Paapa Essiedu) who tells her she must kill three people to save the world. It is the fifth and final episode of the six season series ‘Black Mirror’ and it first aired on Netflix last summer.
Known as @theamitshah on X, ‘Happy Valley‘ actor Amit Shah posted both about his own nomination as Supporting Actor as well as the show’s nominations in the P&O Cruises Memorable Moment Award (the only Bafta in which the public can vote) and its nomination in the Drama Series category. The six part crime drama series revolves around Sarah Lancashire as police officer, Sergeant Cawoood, who lives in the Calder Valley, West Yorkshire and whose personal and professional life is tragically intertwined. Shah plays pharmacist Faisal Bhatti whose own family is in danger and is forced into criminality. This show has six nominations in all.
Shah reposted comments and congratulations made by others on the platform (See links to account below).
On his Instagram, he reflected: “Not entirely sure how this happened but I’m pretty sure” – then tagging a bunch of accounts continued – “had something to do with it.”
Taj Atwal said of her nomination for Female Performance in a Comedy on Instagram – “Today is a good day. Another lovely @bafta nom for Hullraisers! Pinch me!” She was nominated in the same category last year but lost out to Siobhán McSweeney from ‘Derry Girls’.
Channel 4 which broadcasts ‘Hullraisers’ – now in its second season – describes it as a “female led-comedy” – “Enter the joyously chaotic world of native Hullensians Toni, Rana and Paula, as they juggle life, love and a lot of mucking about!”
In the sitcom, set in Hull, Yorkshire, Toni (Leah Brotherhead) is a working class mum and part time actor and hangs out with old sister and mum Paula (Sinead Matthews) and her sister in law, Rana (played by Atwal), who is socially confident, does not have children, is single and a police officer. Her brother (Dane) is played by Yannick Ghanty. Shobna Gulati has also appeared in the sitcom. Six episodes of Season 2 were broadcast in October-November last year and it first screened in April 2022.
Writer Bisha K Ali is one of Britain’s most successful young writers – she has written on Disney’s ‘Ms Marvel’ (2022), ‘Loki’ (2021) and first came to prominence with Hollywood’s Mindy Kaling’s ‘Four Weddings and Funeral’ diverse adaptation in 2019. These are her first Bafta nominations – and quite unlikely to be her last.
She hasn’t personally reacted to the nomination from her Instagram account and on X just reposted all the Bafta nominations for the episode. (See links below). She was a Bafta Elevate Writer in 2018.
Romesh Ranganathan has two nominations along with his regular comedy partner, Rob Beckett for both Comedy Entertainment programme, in ‘Rob & Romesh Vs Danielle Lux, Murray Boland, Jack Shillaker, Bill Righton, David Taylor, Graham Proud (CPL Productions)’ and in the Entertainment Performance category, as well for the same programme.
Elsewhere, ‘The Crown’ (on Netflix) about the British Royal Family led the way with eight nominations in all, seven for ‘Demon 79’, and six for ‘Happy Valley’, ‘Slow Horses’, ‘The Sixth Commandment’, five for ‘The Last of Us’, ‘The Long Shadow’ and ‘Succession’.
The P&O Cruises Memorable Moment Award nominees were unveiled previously and public voting continues until April 9 (see link below).
The Bafta Television Craft Awards will take place on Sunday, April 28.. The Bafta Television Awards with P&O Cruises will once again be hosted by comedians Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan and will be broadcast on BBC One and iPlayer on Sunday 12 May.
Links
Mawaan Rizwan Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mawaanr/
Mawaan Rizwan X – https://twitter.com/MawaanR
Anjana Vasan Instagram post – https://www.instagram.com/p/C4xiWW0Ob6J/?img_index=1
Amit Shah X – https://twitter.com/theamitshah?lang=en
Amit Shah Instagram post – https://www.instagram.com/p/C4wXljJolrj/?hl=en&img_index=1
Taj Atwal Instagram post – https://www.instagram.com/p/C4vEyBhIIpf/
Bisha K Ali Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/bishakali/
Bisha K Ali X – https://twitter.com/bishakali
The P&O Cruises Memorable Moment Awards shortlist and voting – https://www.pocruises.com/blog/2024-memorable-moment-award
