British Academy Television Award for Best Actress
| British Academy Television Award for Best Actress | |
|---|---|
 2026 Recipient: Narges Rashidi | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Presented by | British Academy of Film and Television Arts |
| First award | 1954 (presented 1955) |
| Currently held by | Narges Rashidi for Prisoner 951 (2026) |
| Website | Official website |
This is a list of the British Academy Television Awards for Best Actress. The British Academy Television Awards began in 1955. The Best Actress award was initially given as an "individual honour", without credit to a particular performance, until 1969, when Wendy Craig won for her performance in Not in Front of the Children. Since 1970, nominees have been announced in addition to the winner, and are listed, with the winner highlighted in blue. The Actress category was split into Leading Actress and Supporting Actress, starting in 2010.
Julie Walters holds the record of most wins in this category with four, followed by Judi Dench, Thora Hird, and Helen Mirren, with three wins each. The nominations tally includes Helen Mirren and Francesca Annis having received 6 and Judi Dench and Julie Walters having received 7. The award is currently held by Marisa Abela having won most recently in 2025 for Industry.
Winners and nominees
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1950s
[edit]| Year | Actor | Project | Role(s) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 (1st) | ||||
| Googie Withers | ||||
| 1956 (2nd) | ||||
| Virginia McKenna | ||||
| 1957 (3rd) | ||||
| Rosalie Crutchley | ||||
| 1958 (4th) | ||||
| Not awarded | ||||
| 1959 (5th) | ||||
| Gwen Watford | ||||
1960s
[edit]| Year | Actor | Project | Role(s) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 (6th) | ||||
| Catherine Lacey | ||||
| 1961 (7th) | ||||
| Billie Whitelaw | ||||
| 1962 (8th) | ||||
| Ruth Dunning | ||||
| 1963 (9th) | ||||
| Brenda Bruce | ||||
| 1964 (10th) | ||||
| Vivien Merchant | ||||
| 1965 (11th) | ||||
| Katherine Blake | ||||
| 1966 (12th) | ||||
| Gwen Watford | The Cesar Birotteau/Madam/End Of Term/Take Care Of Madam/The Rules Of The Game | [1] | ||
| Peggy Ashcroft | The Wars of the Roses/Rosmersholm | |||
| June Barry | Four of Hearts - Tilt/Twice Upon a Time/Progress to the Park/No Trams to Lime Street | |||
| Vivien Merchant | The Tea Party | |||
| Moira Redmond | Anatol/The Late Edwina Black/Challenge/R-3 Series/A Tall Stalwart Lancer | |||
| 1967 (13th) | ||||
| Vanessa Redgrave | ||||
| 1968 (14th) | ||||
| Judi Dench | Talking to a Stranger | |||
| 1969 (15th) | ||||
| Wendy Craig | Not in Front of the Children | |||
1970s
[edit]1980s
[edit]1990s
[edit]2000s
[edit]2010s
[edit]2020s
[edit]Superlatives
[edit]| Record | Actress | Programme | Age (in years) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oldest winner | Thora Hird | Lost for Words | 89 |
| Oldest nominee | |||
| Youngest winner | Molly Windsor | Three Girls | 20 years 289 days |
| Youngest nominee | |||
| Bella Ramsey | The Last of Us | 20 years 177 days[10] |
Actresses with multiple wins and nominations
[edit]Multiple wins
[edit]The following people have been awarded the British Academy Television Award for Actress multiple times:
|
4 wins 3 wins |
2 wins
|
Multiple nominations
[edit]The following people have been nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Actress multiple times:
Note: Julie Walters' two mentions in 2010, count as two separate nominations.
References
[edit]- ^ "Television - 1995". British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Retrieved 26 February 2021.
- ^ "Television - 2020". British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Retrieved 26 February 2021.
- ^ "BAFTA TV 2021: Nominations for the Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards and British Academy Television Craft Awards". www.bafta.org. 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
- ^ "Bafta TV awards 2022: full list of nominations". The Guardian. 30 March 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- ^ Ritman, Alex (22 March 2023). "BAFTA TV Awards: 'This is Going to Hurt,' 'The Responder' Lead Pack of Nominees". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ "Bafta TV awards 2023: the full list of winners". Guardian. 14 May 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ^ "BAFTA TV Awards 2024: Nominations". BBC. 20 March 2024. Retrieved March 20, 2024.
- ^ "BAFTA TV Awards: 'Baby Reindeer' Leads Noms With Eight, 'Rivals,' 'Slow Horses' Earn Six Each". The Hollywood Reporter. 27 March 2025. Retrieved 27 March 2025.
- ^ Richardson, Hollie (10 May 2026). "Bafta TV awards 2026: the full list of winners". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 May 2026.
- ^ "Youngest Leading Actress nominee at the BAFTA TV Awards". Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on 2026-02-18. Retrieved 2026-04-16.