NI Dramas Nominated For BAFTAs

Films shot in Northern Ireland have been handed a major accolade.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced the nominations for its annual British Academy Television Craft Awards which honour the 'unsung heroes' behind the scenes of television and new media.

Mo, Occupation (pictured), Small Island and Five Minutes of Heaven which were all filmed in NI and were funded by the Northern Ireland Screen Fund supported by Invest NI and part funded by the European Regional Development Fund have received a total of eight nominations.

Over 50 different programmes and platforms are competing for the prestigious BAFTA mask.

The skills recognised include editing, costume design, titles, make up & hair design, production design, direction, music, writing, photography, sound and online creativity.

Mo, on the life of Mo Mowlam, the late NIO Secretary of State, received nods for Philip Martin in the Director Fiction category, Chrissie Baker for hair and make-up design and Kristina Hetherington for editing fiction.

Occupation also received a nomination in the editing fiction category for Victoria Boydell.

Occupation's Peter Bowker will battle it out with Five Minutes of Heaven's Guy Hibbert in the writer's category.

Small Island's Tony Miller has been nominated in the Photography and Lighting Fiction category. Martin Phipps also received a nomination in the original television music category for Small Island.

The ceremony will be hosted for the first time by Northern Ireland's Christine Bleakley and held at the London Hilton on Park Lane on Sunday 23rd May.

(BMcN/GK)