British Academy Television Awards 1997

The 1997 British Academy Television Awards were held on April 29 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, as a joint ceremony with the British Academy Film Awards. To date, it is the last occasion upon which the two sets awards have been given jointly at the same event; from 1998, the Film and Television Awards were given at separate ceremonies, for the first time since 1968.

Winners

*Best Actor
**Winner: Nigel Hawthorne — "The Fragile Heart" (ITV)
**Other nominees: Christopher Eccleston — "Our Friends in the North" (BBC2); Albert Finney — "Karaoke" / "Cold Lazarus" (BBC1 / Channel 4); Peter Vaughan — "Our Friends in the North" (BBC2)
*Best Actress
**Winner: Gina McKee — "Our Friends in the North" (BBC2)
**Other nominees: Alex Kingston — "Moll Flanders" (ITV); Helen Mirren — "Prime Suspect 5" (ITV); Pauline Quirke — "The Scupltress" (BBC1)
*Best Comedy (Programme or Series)
**Winner: "Only Fools and Horses" (BBC / BBC1)
**Other nominees: "Absolutely Fabulous" (BBC / BBC1); "Father Ted" (Hat Trick Productions / Channel 4); "Game On" (Hat Trick Productions / BBC2)
*Best Comedy Performance
**Winner: David Jason — "Only Fools and Horses" (BBC1)
**Other nominees: Martin Clunes — "Men Behaving Badly" (BBC1); Joanna Lumley — "Absolutely Fabulous" (BBC1); Nicholas Lyndhurst — "Only Fools and Horses" (BBC1)
*Best Drama Serial
**Winner: "Our Friends in the North" (BBC / BBC2)
**Other nominees: "The Crow Road" (BBC Scotland / Union Pictures Productions / BBC2); "The Fragile Heart" (Carnival Films / London Weekend Television / ITV); "Gulliver's Travels" (Jim Henson Productions / RHI Entertainment Inc / Channel 4)
*Best Drama Series
**Winner: "EastEnders" (BBC / BBC1)
**Other nominees: "Ballykissangel" (Ballykea / BBC Northern Ireland / World Productions / BBC1); "Hamish Macbeth" (BBC Scotland / Skyline Films / Zenith Entertainment Ltd); "This Life" (World Productions / BBC2)
*Best Single Drama
**Winner: "Hillsborough" (Granada Television / ITV)
**Other nominees: "Crossing the Floor" (??? / BBC2); "The Precious Blood" (BBC Northern Ireland / BBC2); "Some Kind of Life" (Granada Television / ITV)
*Best News Coverage
**Winner: "Newsnight — BSE Coverage" (BBC / BBC2)
**Other nominees: "Newsnight — Dunblane Massacre" (BBC / BBC2); "News at Ten — Dunblane Massacre" (ITN / ITV); "Channel 4 News — Refugee Crisis in Zaire and Rwanda" (ITN / Channel 4)
*Best Light Entertainment Performance
**Winner: John Bird & John Fortune — "Rory Bremner - Who Else?" / "The Long Johns" (Channel 4)
**Other nominees: Caroline Aherne — "The Mrs Merton Christmas Show" (BBC1); Rory Bremner — "Rory Bremner - Who Else?" (Channel 4); Paul Merton — "Have I Got News For You" (BBC2)
*Best Factual Series
**Winner: "The House" (??? / ???)
**Other nominees: "Cutting Edge" (??? / ???); "People's Century" (BBC / WGBH / BBC2); "The System" (??? / ???)
*Flaherty Award for Single Documentary
**Winner: "Horizon — Fermat's Last Theorem" (BBC / BBC2)
**Other nominees: "" (Rocket Pictures / BBC?); "Cutting Edge — The Home" (??? / ???); "Timewatch — Remember Aberfan" (BBC / BBC2)
*Huw Wheldon Award for Arts Programme or Series
**Winner: "Leaving Home" (??? / ???)
**Other nominees: "A History of British Art" (??? / ???); "American Visions" (??? / ???); "" (??? / BBC2)
*Light Entertainment Programme or Series
**Winner: "Shooting Stars" (BBC / BBC2)
**Other nominees: "The Fast Show" (BBC / BBC2); "Rory Bremner - Who Else?" (Kudos Film & Television / Channel 4); "Ruby Wax Meets" (BBC / BBC1)
*Best Talk Show
**Winner: "The Mrs Merton Christmas Show" (Granada Television / BBC1)
**Other nominees: "Esther" (??? / BBC2); "Late Review" (BBC / BBC2); "Weekly Planet" (??? / ???)
*Best Sports / Events Coverage in Real Time
**Winner: "Euro 96 Coverage" (BBC / BBC1)
**Other nominees: "Formula One Grand Prix Racing" (BBC / BBC2); "Monday Night Football" (Sky Sports); "Remembrance Sunday — The Cenotaph" (BBC / BBC1)
*Foreign Programme Award
**"Murder One"
*The Lew Grade Award
**"Coronation Street"
*The Dennis Potter Award
**Peter Flannery
*The Alan Clarke Award
**Michael Wearing
*The Richard Dimbleby Award
**Robert Hughes
*Special Awards
**Charles F. Wheeler

References

* [http://www.bafta.org/site/page230.html Archive of winners on official BAFTA website] (retrieved March 26 2006).
* [http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/BAFTA_Awards/1997#BAFTA_TV_Award British Academy Television Awards 1997] at the Internet Movie Database