Acclaimed drama It's a Sin, created by Welsh screenwriter and producer Russell T Davies, has dominated nominations for the BAFTA Television Awards and BAFTA Television Craft Awards this year. On Wednesday, March 30, it was announced that the Channel 4 show is up for eleven gongs, six of these in the television awards categories and five in the craft categories.
They include leading actor for pop singer Olly Alexander (who plays Ritchie Tozer) and best drama writer for Swansea-born Davies, whose other works include Queer As Folk and Doctor Who . The show is also in the running for leading actress (Lydia West), best mini-series, best supporting actor (with three nominations, including Welsh actor Callum Scott Howells), best director in the fiction category. You can see the full list of nominations here.
Speaking to BBC Radio Wales on Wednesday, nominee Callum Scott Howells said: "I really can't believe it, my jaw is on the floor...I'm so chuffed." Asked if he expected the show to turn into this phenomenon, Howells said: "Absolutely not. We filmed the show the way we did, as a family. We got so close, we wanted to tell Russell's story so truthfully and so honestly, because he poured his heart into that script. We just wanted to do him proud.
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"For the show to have been received the way it has, I just feel so proud to be involved - I feel so proud to be part of the show anyway. To get recognised like this is beyond anyone's imagination. None of us can believe it."
The series follows a group of friends navigating gay life living in London, spanning the decade from 1981 to 1991. Throughout the episodes you see AIDS transform from a whispered about American illness to a central aspect of their world, with the friends losing their lives one-by-one to the disease.
Other notable nominations include Sky Atlantic's Landscapers starring Olivia Colman (up for seven gongs). Meanwhile Netflix's Sex Education, which was filmed in Wales, is up for five awards, and BBC historical drama A Very British Scandal has four nominations. BBC's Welsh comedy-drama In My Skin, is also up for two awards: best drama series and best drama writer for Kayleigh Llewellyn. The BAFTA Television Craft Awards are on April 24, and the BAFTA Television Awards will follow on May 8.
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