Still Game and Emma Thompson up for Scots BAFTAS

Robert Carlyle and Emma Thompson in The Legend of Barney Thomson. Picture: Contributed

Doctor Who’s creator Steven Moffat, Downton Abbey star Elizabeth McGovern and the comedy Billy Connolly shot in Scotland after being diagnosed with cancer will be in contention at next month’s ceremony.

Still Game star Greg Hemphill, who reunited with Ford Kiernan and the rest of the cast for the sell-out live show at the Hydro, is also nominated for a short film starring fellow comic Frankie Boyle as a recovering alcoholic.

Stonemouth, the adaptation of Iain Banks’ book, and Shetland, the series adapted from the best-selling novels of Ann Cleeves, which are set in Britain’s most northerly isles, and a dramatisation of the Glasgow Girls, the award-winning teenage campaign against the treatment of asylum seekers, are shortlisted.

The Still Game stage show is also up for a gong. Picture: Robert Perry

But there are no nominations for Outlander, the hit time-travel series set and filmed in Scotland, even though it was deemed eligible. Its stars Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe have picked up numerous industry honours since its launch last year. It has only been available in the UK via Amazon’s streaming service.

Carlyle’s debut behind the camera, The Legend of Barney Thomson, leads the race for honours with four nods - for best film, best actor and director (for Carlyle) and best actress (for Thompson).

Carlyle’s film – about a Glasgow barber who becomes an accidental killer – will face competition in the best film category from What We Did On Our Holiday, a black comedy shot on location in the Highlands, which features Tennant and Connolly as a father and son trying to hold their families together.

American actress McGovern is shortlisted along with co-star Elena Anaya for her role in Swung, the adaptation of Ewan Morrison’s cult novel, which is set amid Glasgow’s swinging scene. Other contenders include veteran actors Ken Stott and Peter Mullan, who are shortlisted for BBC dramas The Missing and Stonemouth respectively.

Doctor Who features twice – for best actress for Glasgow-born Michelle Gomez for her role as The Master and showrunner Steven Moffat, who is up for best writer. But Scottish actor Peter Capaldi, who has been playing the lead role for almost two years, misses out.

A BBC Scotland documentary about a spectacular short film daredevil cyclist Danny MacAskill made on the mountains of his home island of Skye will also be in contention at the ceremony on 15 November, which will be presented by broadcaster Edith Bowman.

The new movie version of Macbeth, which was partly shot on Skye and features German-born star Michael Fassbender in the titular role, has impressed critics.

However Australian director’ Justin Kuzel’s film was not entered for the Scottish Baftas and it is unclear whether it meets the eligibility criteria.

BBC Scotland’s broadcast of the Still Game Live show, which sold out 21 nights at the Hydro in Glasgow and generated £6 million in ticket sales, is up for best comedy/entertainment programme.

A broadcast of the sold-out opening gala of the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow, which honoured the late performer and composer Martyn Bennett, is in the same category.

Jude MacLaverty, director of Bafta Scotland, said: “We’ve seen an increase in entries since last year for the awards, which are a real shop window for what is being made in Scotland at the moment.

“This is the second year in a row we’ve been able to have four acting categories and we’ve also been able to bring back a TV drama category this year.

“We have a brilliant, diverse list of nominees, with lots of new talent up against titans like Ken Stott and Robert Carlyle.”

THE NOMINEES ARE...

FILM ACTOR

Robert Carlyle; The Legend of Barney Thomson; David Elliot Kajaki: The True Story; David Tennant What We Did On Our Holiday

TV ACTOR

Mark Bonnar Catastrophe; Peter Mullan Stonemouth; Ken Stott The Missing

FILM ACTRESS

Elena Anaya Swung; Elizabeth Mcgovern Swung; Emma Thompson The Legend of Barney Thomson

TV ACTRESS

Michelle Gomez Doctor Who; Sharon Rooney My Mad Fat Diary; Charlotte Spencer Stonemouth

COMEDY/ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMME

Celtic Connections Opening Concert; Mrs Brown’s Boys; Still Game Live

FILM/TV DIRECTOR

Gordon Anderson Scrotal Recall; Robert Carlyle The Legend of Barney Thomson; Donald Coutts Katie Morag

FEATURE FILM

16 Years Till Summer; The Legend Of Barney Thomson; What We Did On Our Holiday

TV DRAMA

Glasgow Girls; Shetland; Stonemouth

FILM/TV WRITER

Gregory Burke ‘71; Tom Edge Scrotal Recall; Steven Moffat Doctor Who

SHORT FILM

Dropping Off Michael; Gasping; Mining Poems Or Odes

SINGLE DOCUMENTARY

The Bridge: Fifty Years Across The Forth; Danny Macaskill: Riding The Ridge; My New Hair

GAME

Distant Star: Revenant Fleet Blazing Griffin; Monstrum Team Junkfish; Rituals Tymon Zgainski