Edinburgh TV Festival to Honor Sir Lenny Henry

Sir Lenny Henry will be honored at the Edinburgh TV Festival’s TV Awards this August, where the BBC leads with 25 nominations.

Henry will be celebrated with the outstanding achievement award as the festival marks its 50th anniversary. The TV Awards on August 21 are being hosted by actor, comedian and writer Nick Mohammed. The shortlist is led by the BBC with 25 nominations, with ITV at 15, Channel 4 at 14 and Netflix at 12. Apple TV+ landed five and Disney+ has four.

In the running for best drama are Adolescence, Baby Reindeer, Blue Lights, Lockerbie: A Search for Truth, Rivals and Slow Horses. In the best comedy, the nominees are Alma’s Not Normal, Big Boys, Dinosaur, Ludwig, Mr Bigstuff and We Are Lady Parts. After the Party, Dope Thief, Mussolini: Son of the Century, Ripley, Severance and The Studio are up for the best international drama award.

The contenders for best popular factual series include DNA Journey, Getting Filthy Rich, Go Back To Where You Came From, Rob and Rylan’s Grand Tour, Sort Your Life Out and Swiped: The School that Banned Smart Phones. Best entertainment contenders are I Kissed a Girl, Last One Laughing, Taskmaster, The Graham Norton Show, The Piano and The Traitors.

7/7: The London Bombings is up for best doc alongside Bombing Brighton: The Plot to Kill Thatcher, Children of the Cult (Exposure ), D-Day: The Unheard Tapes, Jamali Maddix: Follow the Leader and Our Land: Israel’s Other War.

Nominated for Small Indie of the Year are Afro-Mic Productions, Alleycats TV, Black Camel Pictures, Listen, Rockerdale Studios and Synchronicity Films. Production Company of the Year nominees include Big Talk Studios, Clapperboard Studios, CPL Productions, See-Saw Films, SISTER and Warp Films. Up for Production Group of the Year rea Banijay UK, BBC Studios Productions, Fremantle UK, ITV Studios, STV Studios and Universal International Studios.

BBC iPlayer, Channel 4, ITVX, Netflix and U are vying for streamer of the year. BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Scotland, ITV1, Channel 4 and 5 are in the running for channel of the year.