CHASING a record eleventh BAFTA, Dame Judi Dench has just hours until she discovers if she has beaten her co-star and fellow septuagenarian Eileen Atkins.

The two, both 73-years-old, are nominated in the Best Actress category at this year’s TV awards, for their parts in acclaimed BBC1 series, Cranford.

The programme, set in the 1840s, has dominated this year’s British Academy of Film and Television Awards shortlist and is competing for four awards, one for Drama Series, another for Programme of the Year and two for its female stars.

Dame Judi’s nomination is her 24th from the Academy, an all-time record, and she is 8/13 favourite to win, with Paddy Power bookmakers, just ahead of Atkins who is at 2/1.

The prolific actress already has more of Bafta’s famous mask trophies than anybody else, including four she won for her TV work, five for big-screen performances, and another received when she was presented with a Bafta fellowship.

However for Atkins, the TV nomination is her first since 1969.

The Grandes Dames are up against former BAFTA winner Gina McKee for The Street, and Kierston Wareing for It's A Free World.

Bruce Forsyth will be presented with an Academy Fellowship by comedian Paul Merton, in recognition of his decades on the small screen.

John Willis, BAFTAs TV Committee Chair said: “Bruce Forsyth has been keeping viewers of all ages entertained for decades. He is the ultimate all round entertainer. Just after his 80th birthday is the perfect time for BAFTA to recognize his huge contribution to popular television by awarding Bruce a very well deserved Fellowship.”

However the awards give a nod to youth too, especially in the Best Actor category, with all four nominees newcomers to the BAFTA shortlist.

Andrew Garfield, lauded for his performance in the Channel 4 film Boy A, is up against Tom Hardy for the critically-acclaimed Stuart: A Life Backwards, 5/4 favourite Matthew Macfadyen for his role as a sex offender in Secret Life, and Antony Sher for Primo, set in Auschwitz.

In the Entertainment Programme category, the makers of Britain’s Got Talent – the show that turned opera singer Paul Potts from a supermarket worker to a national hero, will hope to earn full marks from the judges against three-times-nominated, and this year’s favourite, Strictly Come Dancing. The high-rating reality shows will compete against Harry Hill’s TV Burp and Have I Got News for You.

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