Annual award for performance in British TV
This is a list of the British Academy Television Awards for Best Actor . The Best Actor award was initially given as an "individual honour", without credit to a particular performance, until 1962, when Rupert Davies won for his performance in Maigret .
Since 1970, nominees have been announced in addition to the winner. The Actor category was split into Leading Actor and Supporting Actor starting in 2010.
Michael Gambon holds the record of most wins in this category with four, including three consecutive wins, followed by Robbie Coltrane with three, all of them also being consecutive. Benedict Cumberbatch has received the most nominations for this award, with six.
Winners and nominees [ edit ]
Paul Rogers (left) was the first recipient of the award.
Rupert Davies was the first actor to receive this award for a specific work, winning for Maigret .
Keith Michell won the award in 1971.
Sir Anthony Hopkins won for War and Peace in 1973
John Hurt won for The Naked Civil Servant (1976)
Sir Derek Jacobi won the award for I, Claudius in 1977
Edward Fox won the award in 1979 for Edward & Mrs. Simpson .
Year
Actors
Work
1970
Edward Woodward
Callan
John Alderton
Please Sir!
Colin Blakely
Son of Man , The Way We Live Now
Arthur Lowe
Dad's Army
1971
Keith Michell
The Six Wives of Henry VIII
Michael Bryant
The Roads to Freedom
Anthony Hopkins
The Great Inimitable Mr. Dickens , Uncle Vanya , Hearts and Flowers , Danton
Michael Jayston
Charles Dickens , Mad Jack , Beethoven
Freddie Jones
Germinal/Omnibus: John Clare "I Am..."/Sweeney Todd/Uncle Vanya/Menace: The Straight And Narrow
1972
John Le Mesurier
Traitor
Alfred Burke
Public Eye
Frank Finlay
Casanova
Kenneth Haigh
Search for the Nile , Man at the Top
1973
Anthony Hopkins
War and Peace
Michael Bryant
The Duchess of Malfi , Colditz
Nicol Williamson
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
1974
Frank Finlay
The Adventures of Don Quixote ; Candide ; The Death of Adolf Hitler
Michael Crawford
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
Bernard Hepton
The Adventures of Don Quixote , Colditz
Laurence Olivier
Long Day's Journey Into Night
1975
Peter Barkworth
Crown Matrimonial
Michael Bryant
Mr Axelford's Angel
Gordon Jackson
Upstairs, Downstairs
Arthur Lowe
Microbes and Men , David Copperfield
1976
John Hurt
The Naked Civil Servant
Alan Bates
Plaintiffs and Defendants , Two Sundays
Tony Britton
The Nearly Man
Timothy West
Edward the Seventh
1977
Derek Jacobi
I, Claudius
James Bolam
When the Boat Comes In
Tom Conti
The Glittering Prizes
Jack Shepherd
Bill Brand , Ready When You Are Mr McGill
1978
Peter Barkworth
Professional Foul
James Bolam
When the Boat Comes In
Derek Jacobi
Philby, Burgess and Maclean
Robert Powell
Jesus of Nazareth
1979
Edward Fox
Edward and Mrs Simpson
Tom Bell
Out
Ian Holm
Night School , Flayed , Mirage , The Lost Boys
Bob Hoskins
Pennies From Heaven
Alec Guinness has won twice, for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1980) and Smiley's People (1983).
Anthony Andrews won the award for Brideshead Revisited in 1982.
Alan Bates won in 1984.
Michael Gambon won in 1987. Gambon holds the record of most wins in this category with four, including three consecutive wins.
Ian Richardson won in 1991 for his role as Francis Urquhart in House of Cards .
Robbie Coltrane won the award three consecutive times for his role as Dr. Edward "Fitz" Fitzgerald in Cracker in 1994, 1995, and 1996
Simon Russell Beale won in 1998 for A Dance to the Music of Time .
Tom Courtenay won in 1999 for A Rather English Marriage .
Albert Finney received the award in 2003 for The Gathering Storm , he also won a Primetime Emmy Award for the film.
Bill Nighy won for State of Play in 2004.
Mark Rylance has won twice, for The Government Inspector (2006) and Wolf Hall (2016).
Jim Broadbent won for Longford in 2007
Andrew Garfield won for Boy A (2009
Kenneth Branagh won for Wallander in 2010, he also won an International Emmy Award for the role in 2017.
Dominic West won for Appropriate Adult in 2012.
Ben Whishaw won twice for The Hollow Crown in 2013, and This Is Going to Hurt in 2023
Sean Bean won in 2018 for Broken .
Benedict Cumberbatch won for Patrick Melrose in 2019; this was his sixth nomination in this category and first win.
Jared Harris won for Chernobyl in 2020.
Paul Mescal won for Normal People in 2021.
Actors with multiple wins and nominations [ edit ]
The following people have been awarded the British Academy Television Award for Actor multiple times:
Multiple nominations [ edit ]
The following people have been nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Actor multiple times:
6 nominations
5 nominations
4 nominations
3 nominations
2 nominations
Current awards Special awards Retired awards Ceremonies
1955–1975 1976–2000 2001–present