BAFTA TV Analysis: ‘Adolescence’ Gets Set For Awards Season Swansong

It feels an age ago that Netflix’s one-shot sensation Adolescence barrelled its way into the zeitgeist, but today’s BAFTA TV Award nominations ensure the party ain’t over yet.

The results are in and Adolescence’s awards hot streak has been officially prolonged with 11 nominations across the TV and craft awards including five acting nods and Best Limited Drama Series. Co-creator and star Stephen Graham will compete in Leading Actor against big hitters Colin Firth (Lockerbie: A Search for Truth), Matt Smith (The Death of Bunny Munro), and Taron Egerton (Smoke). The supporting actors in the show clearly performed so well that there are four (Owen Cooper, Erin Doherty, Ashley Walters and Christine Tremarco), of which only two can come away with gongs during the May 10 ceremony at London’s Southbank Centre.

So who are Adolescence’s main challengers and how could the BAFTAs shape up elsewhere?

Competing alongside Adolescence for the coveted Limited Drama Series are ITV’s I Fought The Law, the BBC’s What it Feels Like for a Girl and Channel 4’s highly-rated adaptation of Louise Kennedy’s Trespasses, all of which feel like outside bets but may steal a surprise. Take 2022 as an example here, a year in which Russell T. Davies’ smash Channel 4-HBO drama It’s a Sin came away with nothing, bested by quieter breakouts like In My Skin.

One surprisingly big performer from today’s noms announcement was another show starring Graham and Doherty, A Thousand Blows (Doherty is also nommed for this one), which helped ensure a record 17 nominations for Disney+ across TV and Craft, delighting the Mouse House as its Europe content boss Angela Jain prepares to give a Series Mania keynote.

A string of Apple TV and Sky nominations ushered in record-equalling tallies for these two big players. Given that this was a fallow year for Slow Horses, Apple will be delighted with its haul. In the fiercely-contested international category, it dominates with Pluribus, The Studio and Severance all recognized.

The BBC, which will be at pains to stress to punters that it still got by far and away the most nominations, landed an impressive five for The Celebrity Traitors, the highest-rated show on British television in 2025.

In reality, and having journeyed on an awards tour that has at times felt never-ending (who in the world hasn’t by now been regaled with tales of director Philip Barantini’s pioneering techniques), it would be a shock to see the likes of breakout sensation Cooper, Doherty or Graham fail to come away with coveted gold trophies for Adolescence. Frankly, each would be richly deserved.

Adolescence launched in March 2025, ensuring it comfortably fits within BAFTA‘s previous calendar year qualification period, meaning it will head to the BAFTAs comforably more than a year on.

The time gap raises questions over whether the distance between launch and trophy-raising can perhaps take the sheen off things. Since it dropped on Netflix, Adolescence’s creators, stars and crew have won Emmys, Golden Globes, Broadcasting Press Guild awards and more. ITV’s Mr Bates vs the Post Office – a politically-charged drama that became partly responsible for righting the wrong of one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British history – launched on New Year’s Day 2024 and therefore was only eligible to win BAFTAs at a ceremony that took place 16 months later. By the time May 2025 rolled around and Mr Bates won Best Limited Drama Series, the show’s outsized impact felt like yesterday’s chip paper.

Some of the best British television is the most immediate. When Adolescence hit the heights last year, it did so because it touched upon an everyday societal talking point – namely how social media and the much-maligned manosphere were infecting teens of today. Within weeks of launch, co-creator Jack Thorne was discussing its impact at the Prime Minister’s residence and Adolescence was part of the national curriculum.

There is, however, little that either BAFTA, Netflix or anyone else can do about the time gap. Ultimately, BAFTA has to set a qualification year and UK television has never really had an established ‘awards season’ in the vein of its big screen sibling. Buzzy shows tend to launch to tie in with the likes of Christmas, Easter or bank holidays, rather than having their premieres guided by the cutoff dates for award ceremonies.

Furthermore, despite time marching on, the manosphere remains in the headlines. Earlier this month, Netflix launched Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere (in an interview with Deadline, Theroux balked at the idea that his doc is an “Adolescence spin-off”), while we revealed last week that Channel 4 is tackling the topic in Nicola Coughlan’s I Am Helen.

Channel 4 previously accused Netflix of behaving like “TV tourists” over Adolescence by swooping in for talent nurtured by less-monied public broadcasters for years like Graham and Thorne.

“Tourist” or not, Netflix will likely be clearing some room in the trophy cabinet for after May 10.