'This is wrong' says Sachs's wife as Ross is nominated for Bafta - plus the full list of all the other nominations

Published on Tuesday 24 March 2009 21:03

JONATHAN Ross found himself embroiled in controversy again yesterday, after his chat show was nominated for a Bafta television award.

Ross, 48, who returned to the BBC only recently following a three-month suspension for his part in the Andrew Sachs radio phone-in scandal, was shortlisted for the top TV entertainment performance award for his Friday night chat show.

Other nominations include June Brown, 82, for best actress – the first time a soap star has received a Bafta nomination in this category in 21 years – for her performance as Dot Cotton in EastEnders'.

The last soap star to be nominated was Jean Alexander for her portrayal of Hilda Ogden in Coronation Street.

However, the Ross nomination proved controversial yesterday and was branded an "astonishing mistake" by the television watchdog Mediawatch UK.

John Beyer, the director of the group, said: "I think it's a mistake for Jonathan Ross to get a nomination, but I'm not at all surprised.

"Bafta has a reputation for rewarding controversial people for the sake of it. They are completely out of step with public opinion.

"The reaction from the Prime Minister downwards after the Andrew Sachs scandal is evidence of that."

The chat-show host sparked controversy last October when he, along with fellow presenter and comedian Russell Brand, left a series of crude voicemail messages on Sachs's answering machine, as part of a prank on Brand's BBC Radio 2 show. The ensuing fallout dominated the headlines for several weeks, ending in Ross being suspended.

Sachs yesterday expressed surprise at the nomination. He said: "One would question the reasons when it comes so quickly after what happened. I wonder how much it has to do with trying to comfort him? I don't have an emotional reaction, it is all in the past and I don't feel any animosity towards him. Good luck to him in a way."

However, Sachs's wife, Melody, was less forgiving, saying "It is wrong and bad-timing to give or even put up this guy for recognition when he has done such a terrible thing. It was unforgivable really – I'm not angry, I just don't believe it."

Defending the nomination, which is calculated on the basis of votes by the 6,000 Bafta members, Andrew Newman, of the academy's TV committee, said: "This is a nomination for his performance in Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, so what he did on somebody else's radio show would not be a right thing to consider.

"He has been nominated five times before and is a very entertaining performer.''

Andrew Jones, a media expert at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, said: "I don't think it's surprising that he's been nominated. There are a lot of people in the television industry that view Ross as one of the most outstanding talents of his generation."

Ross will compete against Ant and Dec, Harry Hill and Stephen Fry in his category. The winners will be announced at London's Royal Festival Hall on 26 April.

NOMINATIONS

Best actor

Stephen Dillane - The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall (Channel 4)

Jason Isaacs - The Curse of Steptoe (BBC Four)

Ken Stott - Hancock and Joan (BBC Four)

Ben Whishaw - Criminal Justice (BBC One)

Best actress

June Brown - EastEnders (BBC One)

Anna Maxwell Martin - Poppy Shakespeare (Channel 4)

Maxine Peake - Hancock and Joan (BBC Four)

Andrea Riseborough - Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley (BBC Four)

Best entertainment performance

Stephen Fry - QI (BBC Two)

Harry Hill - Harry Hill's TV Burp (ITV1)

Anthony McPartlin & Declan Donnelly - I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! (ITV1)

Jonathan Ross - Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (BBC One)

Best comedy performance

Rob Brydon - Gavin and Stacey (BBC Three)

Sharon Horgan - Pulling (BBC Three)

David Mitchell - Peep Show (Channel 4)

Claire Skinner - Outnumbered (BBC One)

Best single drama

Einstein and Eddington (BBC Two)

Hancock and Joan (BBC Four)

The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall (Channel 4)

White Girl (BBC Two)

Best drama serial

Criminal Justice (BBC One)

Dead Set (Channel 4)

The Devil's Whore (Channel 4)

House of Saddam (BBC Two)

Best drama series

Doctor Who (BBC One)

Shameless (Channel 4)

Spooks (BBC One)

Wallander (BBC One)

Best continuing drama

The Bill (ITV1)

Casualty (BBC One)

EastEnders (BBC One)

Emmerdale (ITV1)

Best factual series

Amazon with Bruce Parry (BBC Two)

Blood Sweat and T-Shirts (BBC Three)

The Family (Channel 4)

Ross Kemp in Afghanistan (Sky One)

Best entertainment programme

The Friday/Sunday Night Project (Channel 4)

Harry Hill's TV Burp (ITV1)

QI (BBC One)

The X Factor (ITV1)

Best situation comedy

The Inbetweeners (Channel 4)

The IT Crowd (Channel 4)

Outnumbered (BBC One)

Peep Show (Channel 4)

Best comedy programme

Harry and Paul (BBC One)

The Peter Serafinowicz Show (BBC Two)

Star Stories (Channel 4)

That Mitchell and Webb Look (BBC Two)

Best single documentary

A Boy Called Alex (Channel 4)

Chosen (Channel 4)

The Fallen (BBC Two)

Thriller in Manila (More 4)

Best feature

The Apprentice (BBC One)

Celebrity MasterChef (BBC One)

The Choir: Boys Don't Sing (BBC Two)

Top Gear (BBC Two)

Best international show

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (More 4)

Dexter (ITV1)

Mad Men (BBC Four)

The Wire (FX)

Best specialist factual

Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery (BBC Four)

Life in Cold Blood (BBC One)

Lost Land of the Jaguar (BBC One)

Stephen Fry and the Gutenberg Press: The Machine That Made Us (BBC Four)

Best current affairs

Saving Africa's Witch Children - Dispatches (Channel 4)

Mum Loves Drugs, Not Me - Dispatches (Channel 4)

Omagh: What the Police Were Never Told - Panorama (BBC One)

Ross Kemp: A Kenya Special (Sky One)

Best news coverage

Channel 4 News (Channel 4)

News at Ten - Chinese Earthquake (ITV1)

Sky News - Canoe Man (Sky News)

Sky News - Mumbai (Sky News)

Best sport

Cheltenham Gold Cup - Denman v Kauto Star (Channel 4)

ITV1 F1: Brazilian Grand Prix (ITV1)

Olympics 2008 (BBC One)

Wimbledon - The Men's Final (BBC One)

Best interactivity

Bryony Makes a Zombie Movie (BBC Three)

Embarrassing Bodies Online (Channel 4)

Merlin (BBC One)

Olympics 2008 (BBC One)

Audience award

To be announced