Stellar performance from the BBC, with more than 50 nominations

The BBC has received a welcome shot in the arm with more than twice as many nominations for the Broadcast Awards 2026 as any other broadcaster or streamer.

The corporation’s performance was particularly strong in the Children’s Programme, and Comedy Drama categories, where it delivered five of the six shortlisted entries; and in the Specialist Factual and Comedy categories, where it was responsible for four out of the six.

By comparison, the next highest number of nominations was Channel 4 with 19 and ITV with 18.

Shortlists for some of the major categories include Best Independent Production Company, which will see 72 Films, Candour Productions, Rogan Productions, Studio Lambert, World Productions and Warp Films go head to head, while Broadcaster of the Year will see SVoD giant Netflix battle PSBs the BBC, Channel 4, ITV1 and 5, as well as UKTV streamer U.

Factual outfits Rogan and 72 will face off again in the Best Documentary Programme with their respective Netflix and BBC films Grenfell: Uncovered and Trump: The Criminal Conspiracy Case. Those shows will compete with Amos Pictures’ One Day in October (C4), Life and Death in Gaza (BBC) from BBC Eye & BBC Storyville, Drum Studios’ Flight 149: Hostage of War for Sky Documentaries, and Undercover: Exposing The Far Right from Tigerlily & Marking Inc in association with HiddenLight & Doc Society for C4.

The 2026 iteration of the awards features several new categories, including Best New Drama. It will be contested by the BBC’s Mr Loverman (Fable Pictures), Disney+ duo Rivals (Happy Prince) and A Thousand Blows (The Story Collective, Matriarch Productions & Water & Power Productions), ITV’s I Fought The Law (Hera Pictures) and Warp Films pair Reunion (BBC) and Adolescence, co-produced with Matriarch Productions and Plan B for Netflix.

Best Returning Drama encompasses the Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, All Creatures Great and Small, Slow Horses, Y Golau: Dŵr, Malpractice and Showtrial.

Rounding out the new scripted categories, Best Comedy Drama will see Death Valley, Am I Being Unreasonable?, Alma’s Not Normal, Gavin & Stacey: The Finale, and Big Boys and Boarders compete.

Various indies have multiple nominations, including Warp Films and Various Artists Limited (four nominations); 72 Films and Studio Lambert (three nominations); and CPL Productions, DM Productions, Expectation, Fulwell Entertainment, Happy Prince, Tidy Productions, Baby Cow Productions, Hat Trick Productions, Optomen, Passion Pictures and Rockerdale Studios (two apiece).

A quintet of shows won two nominations – Netflix’s smash hit drama Adolescence, comedy trio Juice, Smoggie Queens and Such Brave Girls and entertainment format The Assembly.

After the BBC with 52 nominations, Channel 4 with 19 and ITV with 18, comes Sky with 11 across its operations. Streamers Netflix (four) and Prime Video (two) also feature on the shortlist, while 5 scored three nominations and National Geographic two.

The Special Recognition Award, sponsored by Gravity Media, and the Hall of Fame Award, sponsored by Access Bookings, will be announced on the awards night.

This year’s dock10 TV Moment of the Year shortlist will be revealed on Monday, when the voting period to select the winner will begin. 

The awards take place on 4 February at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House on Park Lane.

The full shortlist is available on the awards website.

This article first appeared on our sister site, Broadcast.