Leading ladies - Derry Girls nominated for Bafta TV award as Killing Eve leads with 14 nods

Lisa McGee's hilarious Channel 4 series is up for the Scripted Comedy award alongside Mum (BBC Two), Sally4Ever (Sky Atlantic), and Stath Lets Flats (Channel 4).

McGee tweeted the news with a simple,'Yay!' while the cast, including Nicola Coughlan who plays Claire and Siobhan McSweeney who plays Sister Michael, and fans of the show have also expressed their delight on social media.

"Oh WOW!  Brilliant. This is just lovely. How mad ! G’wan de Girls" wrote Siobhan McSweeney, who plays Sister Michael.  Nicola Coughlan, who plays Claire, added, "Aaaaaaaaaaa!!!! We only went and got nominated for a BAFTA didn’t we?!!!!"

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Leading the nominations is Phoebe Waller-Bridge's drama Killing Eve, which stars Jodie Comer as a psychopathic killer and Sandra Oh as an MI5 operative, with 14 nominations.

Irish actress Fiona Shaw is up for her Supporting Actress for her role in the series.  She's in the running alongside Billie Piper for Collateral (BBC Two), Keeley Hawes for Mrs Wilson (BBC One), and Monica Dolan for A Very English Scandal (BBC One).

Fellow BBC drama A Very English Scandal, about politician Jeremy Thorpe’s downfall, is also high in the nominations list with 12.

Ant and Dec have been nominated for best entertainment performance for Saturday Night Takeaway, despite Ant stepping down from presenting the show following his arrest for drink-driving.

The ITV show is also in the running for best entertainment programme, alongside Britain’s Got Talent, Strictly Come Dancing and Michael McIntyre’s Big Show, while X Factor has been snubbed.

BBC thriller Bodyguard has five nominations and is up for drama series, alongside Killing Eve, Save Me and Informer.

But Bodyguard star Richard Madden is not on the list for leading actor, while his co-star Keeley Hawes is up for best actress.

Instead, Benedict Cumberbatch is in the running for best actor for his role in  Patrick Melrose, the Sky Atlantic drama which has six nominations.

Hugh Grant is nominated for A Very English Scandal, and Chance Perdomo (Killed By My Debt) and Lucian Msamati (Kiri) complete the list.

The best actress nominees are Killing Eve stars Oh and Comer, Hawes for Bodyguard and Ruth Wilson for Mrs Wilson.

Music documentary Bros: After The Screaming Stops is in the running for three gongs.

The Great British Bake Off, on Channel 4, is in the features category.

Bafta chairwoman Dame Pippa Harris praised Killing Eve for its “chutzpah” and the fact that it is “in memory, the highest number (of nominations) for a single show”.

She told the Press Association: “I think the two central performances, you can’t get away from the fact that Jodie and Sandra just burst on to people’s screens and we all just fell in love with them.

“But also the chutzpah of the show, the way it was directed, the way it was written, the blend of drama and high-octane thriller, with comedy, very black comedy of course, but with comedy. I think people watched it because they didn’t know what was going to happen next, they were going with all the twists and turns and (were) never sure where their sympathies should lie.”

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Asked if she thought audiences found it refreshing to see a female protagonist being “bad”, she said: “I think that is still quite a rare thing to see on screen, we’re perfectly used to seeing men behaving badly on screen, killing people and being assassins, but it’s not something we’ve seen women do, or very rarely seen women do and I think people like that.”

BBC director of content Charlotte Moore said: “I’d like to congratulate all of today’s Bafta nominees.

“In an exceptionally strong year for the television industry we’re proud to be championing original British content and talent across every single genre.

“With our dramas garnering multiple nominations and a strong showing for our comedy, entertainment, sport and factual programmes it’s been a great year for the BBC’s programmes. A big thank you and congratulations to all the exceptional talent we work with.”

The Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards take place in London on May 12.

Here are the the nods in the major categories:

Comedy entertainment programme

The Big Narstie Show (Channel 4)The Last Leg (Channel 4)A League Of Their Own (Sky One)Would I Lie To You? (BBC One)

Current affairs

Football’s Wall Of Silence (Al Jazeera Investigations) (Al Jazeera English)Iran Unveiled: Taking On The Ayatollahs (Exposure) (ITV)Massacre at Ballymurphy (Channel 4)Myanmar’s Killing Fields (Dispatches) (Channel 4)

Drama series

Bodyguard (BBC One)Informer (BBC One)Killing Eve (BBC One)Save Me (Sky Atlantic)

Entertainment performance

Anthony McPartlin, Declan Donnelly – Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway (ITV)David Mitchell – Would I Lie To You? (BBC One)Lee Mack – Would I Lie To You? (BBC One)Rachel Parris – The Mash Report (BBC Two)

Entertainment programme

Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway (ITV)Britain’s Got Talent (ITV)Michael McIntyre’s Big Show (BBC One)Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One)

Factual series

24 Hours In A&E (Channel 4)Life And Death Row: The Mass Execution (BBC Three)Louis Theroux’s Altered States (BBC Two)Prison (Channel 4)

Features

Gordon, Gino and Fred’s Road Trip (ITV)The Great British Bake Off (Channel 4)Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing (BBC Two)Who Do You Think You Are? (BBC One)

Female performance in a comedy programme

Daisy May Cooper – This Country (BBC Three)Jessica Hynes – There She Goes (BBC Four)Julia Davis – Sally4Ever (Sky Atlantic)Lesley Manville – Mum (BBC Two)

International

54 Hours: The Gladbeck Hostage Crisis (BBC Four)The Handmaid’s Tale (Channel 4)Reporting Trump’s First Year: The Fourth Estate (Storyville) (BBC Two)Succession (Sky Atlantic)

Leading actor

Benedict Cumberbatch – Patrick Melrose (Sky Atlantic)Chance Perdomo – Killed By My Debt (BBC Three)Hugh Grant – A Very English Scandal (BBC One)Lucian Msamati – Kiri (Channel 4)

Leading actress

Jodie Comer – Killing Eve (BBC One)Keeley Hawes – Bodyguard (BBC One)Ruth Wilson – Mrs Wilson (BBC One)Sandra Oh – Killing Eve (BBC One)

Live event

Open Heart Surgery: Live (Channel 5)Royal British Legion Festival Of Remembrance (BBC One)The Royal Wedding: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (BBC One)Stand Up To Cancer (Channel 4)

Male performance in a comedy programme

Alex Macqueen – Sally4Ever (Sky Atlantic)Jamie Demetriou – Stath Lets Flats (Channel 4)Peter Mullan – Mum (BBC Two)Steve Pemberton – Inside No. 9 (BBC Two)

Mini-series

A Very English Scandal (BBC One)Kiri (Channel 4)Mrs Wilson (BBC One)Patrick Melrose (Sky Atlantic)

News coverage

Bullying And Harassment In The House of Commons (Newsnight) (BBC Two)Cambridge Analytica Uncovered (Channel 4)Good Morning Britain: On A Knife Edge (ITV)Good Morning Britain: Thomas Markle Exclusive (ITV)

Reality & constructed factual

Dragon’s Den (BBC Two)I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! (ITV)Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds (Channel 4)The Real Full Monty: Ladies’ Night (ITV)

Scripted comedy

Derry Girls (Channel 4)Mum (BBC Two)Sally4Ever (Sky Atlantic)Stath Lets Flats (Channel 4)

Short form programme

Bovril Pam (Snatches From Women’s Lives) (BBC Four)The Mind Of Herbert Clunkerdunk (BBC iPlayer)Missed Call (Real Stories)Wonderdate (BBC iPlayer)

Single documentary

Driven: The Billy Monger Story (BBC Three)Gun No. 6 (BBC Two)My Dad, The Peace Deal And Me (BBC One)School For Stammerers (ITV)

Single drama

Bandersnatch – Black Mirror (Netflix)Care (BBC One)Killed By My Debt (BBC Three)Through The Gates (On The Edge) (Channel 4)

Soap & continuing drama

Casualty (BBC One)Coronation Street (ITV)EastEnders (BBC One)Hollyoaks

Specialist factual

Bros: After The Screaming Stops (BBC Four)Grayson Perry: Rites Of Passage (Channel 4)Suffragettes With Lucy Worsley (BBC One)Superkids: Breaking Away From Care (Channel 4)

Sport

2018 Six Nations: Scotland v England (BBC One)2018 World Cup Quarter Final: England v Sweden (BBC One)England’s Test Cricket – Cook’s Farwell (Sky Sports Cricket)Winter Olympics (BBC Two)

Supporting actor

Alex Jennings – Unforgotten (ITV)Ben Whishaw – A Very English Scandal (BBC One)Kim Bodnia – Killing Eve (BBC One)Stephen Graham – Save Me (Sky Atlantic)

Supporting actress

Billie Piper – Collateral (BBC Two)Fiona Shaw – Killing Eve (BBC One)Keeley Hawes – Mrs Wilson (BBC One)Monica Dolan – A Very English Scandal (BBC One)

Additional reporting by PA.