British Academy Television Awards 1997

The 1997 British Academy Television Awards were held on 29 April 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 — The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders (ITV); Helen Mirren — Prime Suspect 5 (ITV); Pauline Quirke — The Sculptress (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 (BBC2)
  • Other nominees: Cutting Edge (Channel 4); People's Century (BBC / WGBH / BBC2); The System (??? / ???)
• Flaherty Award for Single Documentary
  • Winner: Horizon — Fermat's Last Theorem (BBC / BBC2)
  • Other nominees: Elton John: Tantrums & Tiaras (Rocket Pictures / BBC?); Cutting Edge — The Home (Channel 4); 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 (??? / ???); Dancing in the Street: A Rock and Roll History (??? / 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

• Archive of winners on official BAFTA website (retrieved March 26, 2006).
• British Academy Television Awards 1997 at the Internet Movie Database