Mr Bates Vs The Post Office and Baby Reindeer in running for top TV Bafta awards

11 May 2025, 06:32

Mr Bates Vs The Post Office will compete against hit Netflix mini-series Baby Reindeer for a top prize at the Bafta TV Awards on Sunday.

The other nominees in the limited drama category are romance series One Day, an adaptation of the best-selling novel by David Nicholls, and BBC adoption drama Lost Boys And Fairies.

Black comedy stalking drama Baby Reindeer, created by Scottish comedian Richard Gadd, has already won a slew of awards, including the best limited series Emmy.

Critics and viewers have praised the limited series, which started out as an Edinburgh Fringe production and is said to have been inspired by the real-life experiences of writer Gadd.

The drama, which follows Gadd’s character Donny as he is stalked by a character called Martha (Jessica Gunning), hit the headlines last year after a woman claiming to be the “real” Martha brought a lawsuit against Netflix.

During the ceremony, which will be presented by Scottish actor Alan Cumming at London’s Royal Festival Hall, ITV will be recognised with the Bafta TV special award for commissioning post office drama Mr Bates.

The four-part series has renewed public attention on the subpostmasters who fought to clear their names in the wake of the Horizon scandal.

Star of the show Toby Jones is nominated in the leading actor category for his role as lead campaigner Sir Alan Bates, while Monica Dolan is twice-nominated for her roles in Mr Bates and James Graham’s crime drama, Sherwood.

The other leading actor nominees are David Tennant for Disney+ comedy series Rivals, Gary Oldman for MI5 thriller Slow Horses, Martin Freeman for police drama The Responder, Lennie James for LGBT+ drama Mr Loverman, and Gadd for Baby Reindeer.

Alongside Dolan in the leading actress category is Anna Maxwell Martin for true crime miniseries Until I Kill You, Lola Petticrew for historical Northern Irish drama Say Nothing, Marisa Abela for BBC finance drama Industry, Sharon D Clarke for Mr Loverman, and Billie Piper for Netflix drama Scoop, about the Newsnight interview between Emily Maitlis and the Duke of York.

Rivals stars Tennant, Katherine Parkinson and Danny Dyer are among the nominees attending this year’s ceremony.

Other guests include Slow Horses’ Sir Jonathan Pryce, Wolf Hall actor Damian Lewis, and TV presenters Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly.

The Traitors host Claudia Winkleman, who is nominated in the entertainment performance category, and Gavin And Stacey co-creator Ruth Jones, who has a nod for female comedy performance, will also be there.

Former Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark will be honoured with the Bafta fellowship, which recognises an exceptional contribution to film, television or games.

Wark has interviewed a variety of prominent politicians and cultural figures throughout her career, including former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, Australian author Germaine Greer, Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker and The Libertines’ Pete Doherty.

Ahead of the awards, comedians Suzi Ruffell and Tom Allen, who host the Like Minded Friends podcast, will talk to nominees on the red carpet.

Speaking to the PA news agency, Allen said: “The great benefit of us meeting people on the red carpet is that we can have the more informal, fun moments, because I think that’s what people want.”

Ruffell said: “We’ve got the lovely opportunity to be able to connect with people in a way that maybe we’ve not seen them, because we’ve been watching them being someone else on telly, it’s lovely to be able to have those moments where we really get to talk to them and see how they’re feeling and congratulate them.”

The red carpet livestream with Ruffell and Allen will be on the Bafta YouTube account from 3.30pm to 5pm.

The Bafta TV Awards will air on BBC One at 7pm.