1996 British Academy Television Awards


The 1996 British Academy Television Awards were held on 21 April 1996 at London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane followed by dinner in The Great Room, Grosvenor House Hotel, as a joint ceremony with the British Academy Film Awards.

Winners and nominees

Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface; the nominees are listed below.
Best Drama SeriesBest Drama Serial
Cracker
The Politician's Wife
  • * Pride and Prejudice
  • * Band of Gold
  • * The Hanging Gale
    • Best ActorBest Actress
    Robbie Coltrane – Cracker
  • * Robert Lindsay – Jake's Progress
  • * Ian Richardson – The Final Cut
  • * Colin Firth – Pride and Prejudice
  • * Benjamin Whitrow – Pride and Prejudice
    		• Jennifer Ehle – Pride and Prejudice
  • * Juliet Stevenson – The Politician's Wife
  • * Helen Mirren – Prime Suspect 4: The Lost Child
  • * Geraldine James – Band of Gold
    • Best Comedy Best Comedy Performance
    Father Ted
  • * Absolutely Fabulous
  • * Men Behaving Badly
  • * One Foot in the Grave
    		• Martin Clunes – Men Behaving Badly
  • * Joanna Lumley – Absolutely Fabulous
  • * Judi Dench – As Time Goes By
  • * Richard Wilson – One Foot in the Grave
    • Best Single DramaBest Factual Series
    Persuasion
  • * Eleven Men Against Eleven
  • * Go Now
  • * Heroes and Villains: The Last Englishman
    		• The Death of Yugoslavia – Norma Percy
  • * Dispatches – David Lloyd
  • * Network First – Stuart Prebble, John Blake
  • * The Private Life of Plants – Mike Salisbury
    • Best Light Entertainment PerformanceBest Light Entertainment Programme or Series
    Rory Bremner – Rory Bremner - Who Else?
  • * Paul Merton – Have I Got News for You
  • * Caroline Aherne – The Mrs Merton Show
  • * Peter Ustinov – An Evening with Sir Peter Ustinov
    		• The Mrs Merton Show
  • * Have I Got News for You
  • * Rory Bremner - Who Else?
  • * Shooting Stars
    • Best News CoverageBest Talk Show
    Channel 4 News Coverage Of War Crimes In Former Yugoslavia – Production Team
  • * BBC1 News Coverage On Bosnia – Martin Bell
  • * BBC2 Newsnight – Peter Horrocks
  • * ITN Coverage Of The War In Chechnya – Production Team
    		• Martin Bashir and Mike Robinson – Panorama: "An Interview with HRH The Princess of Wales" * The award was returned in May 2021.
  • * Anne Marie Thorogood and Dan Patterson – Clive Anderson Talks Back
  • * Patsy Newey, Esther Rantzen, and Jane Elsdon-Dew – Esther
  • * Jeff Anderson – This Morning
    • Flaherty Award for Single DocumentaryHuw Wheldon Award for Arts Programme or Series
    The Betrayed - Russian Invasion of Chechnya
  • * Anne Frank Remembered
  • * The Dying Rooms
    		• Children of the Revolution – John Wyver, David Hinton
  • * Arena – Peter Lydon
  • * The Homecoming – Archie Baron
  • * A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies – Florence Dauman
    • Best Sports / Events Coverage in Real TimeForeign Programme Award
    Peter Hylton Cleaver, Neil Eccles and Philip S. Gilbert and Team – VE Day Coverage
  • * Jane Garrod – Cheltenham Gold Cup
  • * Andy Melvin, Tony Mills – Super Sunday - The Final Day Of The Premiership
  • * Neil Eccles, Simon Betts, Philip S Gilbert – VJ-50 Live: The Final Tribute
    		• ER
    Best Children's Programme - FactualBest Children's Programme - Fiction or Entertainment
    Short Change – Roy Milani
  • * Art Attack – Tim Edmunds, Neil Buchanan
  • * How 2 – Adrian Edwards, Jeremy Cross
  • * Wise Up – Mick Robertson, Julian Kemp
    		• Coping with Christmas – Sue Nott, Dan Zeff, Peter Corey
  • * Byker Grove – Matthew Robinson, Tim Leandro, Brian B Thompson
  • * Jackanory – Maggie Barbour
  • * The Ward – Kieran Roberts, Beryl Richards
    • The Lew Grade AwardThe Dennis Potter Award
    Antiques RoadshowRoy Clarke
    The Alan Clarke AwardThe Richard Dimbleby Award
    Roy BattersbyJeremy Paxman
    Lloyds Bank People's Vote For The Most Popular Television ProgrammeOriginality
    The X FilesAardman Animation – Nick Park

    Special Awards

    Camera Team – Survival