Big pictures lead small-screen award nominations

Kate Elliott stars in Bliss The Beginning of Katherine Mansfield. Photo / Supplied

The New Zealand Television Awards may have parted company with local movies for their annual prize-giving this year, but the awards for small screen dramas are dominated by big-budget one-off tele-features.

The leading nominee is Bliss - The Beginning of Katherine Mansfield with nine nominations, including Kate Elliott for best actress in the title role.

Other feature-length productions, including Siege, Rage and Tangiwai: A Love Story dominate the acting, writing, directing and technical categories.

That means a virtual shut-out for television series - the high-rating Nothing Trivial's only nomination, for example, is in the best drama series category against Underbelly: Land of the Long Green Cloud and the fourth season of Go Girls.

Shortland Street has only one nod, for Amanda Billing in the best actress category.

In other categories, Andrew Lumsden, aka Te Radar, is a multi-nominee.

He's up for best presenter (entertainment/factual) for Global Radar, which also appears in the best information series category. As well, his Radar Across the Pacific has been nominated as best factual series.

In the TV news and current affairs section, TV3 appears to have the upper hand in the nominations over rival TVNZ.

Although One News and TVNZ's Tonight bulletin are nominated for best scheduled news programme against 3 News, TV3 has a two to one dominance in best coverage breaking news, best news reporting, best current affairs reporting for a daily programme, best current affairs series and investigation of the year.

The best news or current affairs presenter nominations pit TV3's John Campbell and Mike McRoberts and Maori TV's Native Affairs frontman Julian Wilcox against each other.

Campbell is also nominated for best current affairs reporting, investigation of the year and his Campbell Live is up for best current affairs series against 60 Minutes and TV One's Sunday.

The awards in the 46 categories will be presented in Auckland on Saturday November 3.

The full awards list:
www.televisionawards.co.nz