Royal Television Society announces the nominees of the Programme Awards

The Royal Television Society (RTS) has shortlisted the nominations for the RTS Programme Awards 2025, in partnership with Cast & Crew. Celebrated comedian Tom Allen is returning to host the ceremony this year, which will be held on Tuesday 25th March at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

The BBC leads the way with 45 nominations across the 29 categories, dominating all three nominations for the Breakthrough, Comedy Drama and Comedy Performance – Female categories. Landmark reality series "The Traitors" was nominated in both the Entertainment and Entertainment Performance categories, the latter for Claudia Winkleman’s hosting of the show, while historical drama series "Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light" was nominated in the Drama Series and Writer – Drama categories.

Channel 4 received 14 nominations for 2025, with "To Catch a Copper" and "The Push: Murder on the Cliff" nominated in the Documentary Series category, and the broadcaster’s coverage of the Paris 2024 Paralympics recognised in both the Sports Presenter, Commentator or Pundit and Sports Programme categories.

For the Leading Actor categories, Adeel Akhtar for the BBC’s "Showtrial", Lennie James for the BBC’s "Mr Loverman" and Ben Whishaw for Netflix’s "Black Doves" have all received nominations. Anna Maxwell Martin for ITV1’s "Until I Kill You", Ambika Mod for Netflix’s "One Day", and Monica Dolan for ITV1’s "Mr Bates vs The Post Office" will all compete for the Leading Actor – Female category. Notably, Monica Dolan is also nominated in the Supporting Actor Female category for the BBC’s "Sherwood".

For the newly combined Limited Series and Single Drama category, which includes self-contained drama series as well as Single Dramas, ITV received two nods for "Mr Bates vs The Post Office" and "Breathtaking", both dramas with contemporary resonance, while the BBC’s musical series "This Town" rounded out the category.

You can see the full nomination list here: https://rts.org.uk/award/rts-programme-awards-2025

Kenton Allen, Chair of the RTS Programme Awards, said: “The calibre of programming from British creatives has not wavered in the last 12 months despite it being an incredibly challenging year for the television industry, with many of our colleagues feeling the effects of the rapidly changing ways audiences are viewing our exceptional work. This year’s nominations exemplify the breadth, creativity and quality of British television – from agenda-setting dramas, landmark documentaries, record-breaking comedies and so much more. We’re looking forward to coming together to celebrate the achievements of the incredible creatives both on and off screen, and recognising the huge achievements from the past year.”