Theatre News

The Vote and The Sound of Music Live! nominated for BAFTA TV awards

The live theatre screenings have been recognised in the TV awards

Publicity image for The Vote at the Donmar Warehouse''
The Vote at the Donmar Warehouse''

The The Sound of Music Live! and the Donmar Warehouse production of The Vote have both been nominated in this year's British Academy Television Awards.

The nominations were announced earlier today. Both The Vote and The Sound of Music Live! were nominated in the Live Event category. They face competition from Big Blue Live and Stargazing Live: Brit in Space, Tim Peake Special.

The Vote was live broadcast on More4 on 7 May on the night of the general election. James Graham's play is set in a London polling station and starred Catherine Tate, Mark Gatiss and Nina Sosanya.

The Sound of Music Live! was a live TV performance of The Sound of Music, broadcast in December 2015. Kara Tointon played Maria and Julian Ovenden played Captain von Trapp. According to overnight figures, the programme was watched by 3.82 million viewers.

As well as The Vote and The Sound of Music Live! the Bafta TV Awards have recognised stars across stage and screen. Mark Rylance has been nominated in the Leading Actor category for his role as Thomas More in Wolf Hall alongside Idris Elba for Luther, Ben Whishaw for London Spy and Stephen Graham for This is England '90.

In the leading actress category, Claire Foy for Wolf Hall, Ruth Madeley for Don't Take My Baby, Sheridan Smith for The C-Word and Suranne Jones for Doctor Foster.

Michaela Coel has also been nominated for Female Performance in a Comedy Programme for Chewing Gum, a TV adaptation of her play Chewing Gum Dreams. Elsewhere, actors such as Ian McKellen, Lesley Manville and Toby Jones were also recognised.

Playwright Mike Bartlett's series Doctor Foster was nominated in the Mini-Series category.

The awards ceremony will take place on 8 May at the Royal Festival Hall in London.