BAFTA Nominations Celebrated

Regional TV production has been given a fillip this week with news that the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has nominated several Northern Ireland-made programmes for its annual Television Awards.

Mo, Five Minutes of Heaven, Small Island and Occupation, were all filmed in NI with funding by Northern Ireland Screen Fund supported by Invest NI and the European Regional Development Fund.

Between them, they have received a total of eight nominations for the prestigious accolade.

Mo has been nominated for Best Single Drama. The Channel 4/ITV co-production is a revealing drama about Mo Mowlam (pictured); the powerfully charismatic woman who's no-nonsense approach to politics helped achieve one of the most monumental landmarks in British history, the Good Friday Agreement.

Julie Walters received a nod in the Leading Actress category for the title role in Mo.

Julie's co-star Gary Lewis who played Adam Ingram MP has also been nominated in the Supporting Actor category. Mo, which broadcast on Channel in January, gave C4 its highest single drama audience in more than eight years.

Five Minutes of Heaven will battle it out with Mo for the Best Single Drama award.

Five Minutes Of Heaven, which stars two of Northern Ireland's greatest acting luminaries, Liam Neeson and James Nesbitt, is a unique one-off drama that explores aspects of Northern Ireland's troubled past and the challenges the future holds in coming to terms with it.

Five Minutes of Heaven previously won two awards at the highly prestigious A-list Sundance Film Festival and more recently an RTS award for Best Single Drama.

Small Island has been nominated for Best Drama Serial. Adapted from Andrea Levy's best-selling award-winning novel Small Island is an epic love story about the determined pursuit of dreams in the face of seemingly insurmountable barriers.

David Oyelowo and Benedict Cumberbatch have also been nominated in the Leading Actor and Supporting Actor categories respectively for their performances in Small Island.

Occupation is up against Small Island in the Best Drama Serial category.

Occupation is powerful three-part drama serial starring James Nesbitt that traces the lives of three British soldiers from the invasion of Basra in March 2003 to the present.

Northern Ireland Screen's Honorary President, Kenneth Branagh has also been nominated in the Leading Actor category for his role in Wallander.

Hosted by Graham Norton and broadcast on BBC One the Awards will be held at London's Palladium on Sunday 6 June.

(BMcC/GK)