Nick Mohammed to Host the 2025 Edinburgh TV Awards

The Edinburgh TV Festival, the UK’s leading television industry event brought to you by Screen Scotland, has unveiled the shortlist for its prestigious TV Awards supported by Cast & Crew. The ceremony will take place on Thursday 21 August as part of the Edinburgh TV Festival.

In 2025, television continues to thrive as a powerful force for connection, creativity, and cultural influence – driven by bold storytelling, diverse voices, and innovative formats. From emotionally resonant dramas and genre-defying comedies to reality formats that challenge convention and scripted series that push narrative boundaries, this year’s nominees reflect the impact television can have, both on audiences and society at large.

The ceremony will be hosted by double Emmy-nominated actor, comedian and writer Nick Mohammed, whose career has earned him both critical acclaim and a devoted following. Best known for his role as Nathan Shelley in the global hit Ted Lasso, Nick has recently appeared in Prime Video’s Deep Cover, and Renegade Nell for Disney+. He also created and starred in the Sky comedy Intelligence, and has recently filmed the upcoming feature film Control. Beyond the screen, Nick has also earned widespread recognition for his live character comedy work, most notably bringing his iconic persona Mr Swallow to the West End in 2024 with the hit show A Christmas Carol(ish). He is currently touring the UK with his biggest live show to date, Show Pony, which has received glowing reviews.

Nick Mohammed said: “I honestly couldn’t be more thrilled and honoured to be hosting the TV Festival awards this year. I can’t promise Mr. Swallow won’t make an appearance but – frankly – given how well he went down at the BAFTA Film Awards last year, surely this can’t go any worse. But good luck everyone!”

The shortlist for this year’s Awards is packed full of the best acting and producing talent in the television industry from across the UK and internationally. With a broad range of broadcasters and streamers nominated, the BBC leads the shortlist with 25 nominations across the broadcaster and individual talent categories. ITV amassed 15 nominations and Channel 4 14 with global streamer Netflix receiving 12, Apple TV+ 5 and Disney+ 4 nominations.

The scripted categories showcase the range of stories brought to life by powerful performances and the creative teams behind them. Nominated for Best Drama are Adolescence, Baby Reindeer, Blue Lights, Lockerbie: A Search for Truth, Rivals and Slow Horses, while in the Best Comedy category Alma’s Not Normal, Big Boys, Dinosaur, Ludwig, Mr Bigstuff and We Are Lady Parts will compete for the top spot.

The Best International Drama category nominations go to After the Party, Dope Thief, Mussolini: Son of the Century, Ripley, Severance and The Studio.

This year the unscripted categories include a mix of insightful and entertaining series. The nominations for Best Popular Factual Series include DNA Journey, Getting Filthy Rich, Go Back To Where You Came From, Rob and Rylan’s Grand Tour, Sort Your Life Out and Swiped: The School that Banned Smart Phones; in the Best Entertainment Series category, dynamic formats take the lead with nominations going to I Kissed a Girl, Last One Laughing, Taskmaster, The Graham Norton Show, The Piano and The Traitors.

In the Best Documentary category sponsored by the Farm, this year’s nominees include 7/7: The London Bombings, Bombing Brighton: The Plot to Kill Thatcher, Children of the Cult (Exposure), D-Day: The Unheard Tapes, Jamali Maddix: Follow the Leader and Our Land: Israel’s Other War – each offering a distinct perspective on real-world events and issues.

In a new category introduced this year, Batch from Scratch: Cooking for Less, Champions Full Gallop, Cooking with the Stars, DNA Journey and M&S Dress the Nation are all nominated for the inaugural Best Branded Entertainment Award.

The performance categories are once again brimming with talent this year, with the Best TV Actor Drama category showcasing standout performances, including both Danny Dyer and Katherine Parkinson for Rivals, Richard Gadd and Jessica Gunning for Baby Reindeer, and Owen Cooper and Stephen Graham in Adolescence. For Best TV Actor Comedy, the nominations include Anjana Vasan in We Are Lady Parts, both Lucy Punch and Philippa Dunne in Amandaland, Nabhaan Rizwan in Kaos, Oliver Savell in Changing Ends and Sophie Willan in Alma’s Not Normal.

The Breakthrough Performance category showcases a wave of emerging talent set to become household names. The nominations feature Ashley Storrie for Dinosaur, Bella Maclean for Rivals, Maximilian Fairley for Unforgotten, Owen Cooper for Adolescence, Sekou Diaby for Boarders and Thaddea Graham for Bad Sisters.

The presenter categories showcase a wide range of onscreen talent with the shortlist for Best Entertainment Presenter featuring presenting duo Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly for Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, Claudia Winkleman for The Traitors, Graham Norton for The Graham Norton Show, and both Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan for Rob & Rom Vs… Best Factual Presenter nominations include Joe Tracini for Me and the Voice in My Head, Mobeen Azhar for The Soldiers That Saved Britain, Munya Chawawa for How to Survive a Dictator: North Korea and Poppy Jay for Young, British and Anti-Abortion.

This year’s Climate Storytelling nominees cover a range of subject areas and includes, Big Brother, Emmerdale, Gabon: Earth’s Last Chance, Our Living World, Ready Meals, What They Really Mean For You and Spirit Rangers. Another new category for the 2025 awards will honour the Agency of the Year, with the nominees including Insanity, Mirador Talent Group and Strange Town Agency.

None of the brilliant shows nominated would get to screens without the incredible production companies and broadcasters behind them and those teams are also recognised. Nominated for Small Indie of the Year are Afro-Mic Productions, Alleycats TV, Black Camel Pictures, Listen, Rockerdale Studios and Synchronicity Films. Production Company of the Year nominees include Big Talk Studios, Clapperboard Studios, CPL Productions, See-Saw Films, SISTER and Warp Films, and Production Group of the Year sees Banijay UK, BBC Studios Productions, Fremantle UK, ITV Studios, STV Studios and Universal International Studios all nominated for the coveted award.

The nominations for Streamer of the Year include BBC iPlayer, Channel 4, ITVX, Netflix and U, with BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Scotland, ITV1, Channel 4 and 5 all battling it out for the coveted Channel of the Year Award.

Special awards will be presented in Edinburgh including TV Moment of the Year and the Outstanding Achievement Award, awarded to Sir Lenny Henry. The Edinburgh TV Awards Ceremony, supported by Cast & Crew, will be held at the EICC on Thursday 21st August. The full list of nominees can be found here.