Sheridan Smith has been named on the first all-female drama performance shortlist at the National Television Awards 2026, one of two changes that reset this year’s nominations. The line-up also adds a new celebrity-led shows category, turning a familiar awards race into something broader and more commercially minded.
Celebrity-led shows at NTAs 2026
The new category gives a formal lane to series built around high-recognition names, with At Home With The Furys, Clarkson’s Farm, Stacey & Joe, Fletchers’ Family Farm and Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing all in contention. For readers tracking where this part of TV now sits, the list shows the awards are acknowledging celebrity-led programmes as a defined part of the schedule rather than an afterthought.
That category is also unusually easy to read as a competition between formats. At Home With The Furys, Clarkson’s Farm and Stacey & Joe carry the biggest headline names, while Fletchers’ Family Farm and Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing extend the field beyond simple household fame into repeat-viewing, personality-driven TV. The shortlist tells the industry that the format has enough weight to stand on its own.
First all-female drama shortlist
Ruth Jones, Ella Bruccoleri, Judy Parfitt, Sheridan Smith and Vicky McClure make up the first all-female shortlist for the drama performance prize. Smith’s place matters because this is not just a nomination list with a familiar name on it; it is the first time the category has been drawn entirely from women, a clean break from the usual mixed-field pattern.
Heated Rivalry also entered the awards conversation through the new drama prize, giving the ceremony another category shaped around recent screen output rather than legacy. The show stars Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams as two rival hockey players who fall in love, and it is competing with A Woman Of Substance, Believe Me, I Fought The Law and The Other Bennet Sister.
McPartlin, Donnelly and 2025
Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly are back in the TV presenter prize, but their return carries a complication: their 23-year winning streak ended at the 2025 ceremony when Gary Lineker won. This year’s shortlist also includes Sir David Attenborough, Alison Hammond, Stacey Solomon and Claudia Winkleman, which makes the field feel more open than it has in years.
That loosened hierarchy is the real story here. The National Television Awards 2026 are not simply repeating old patterns; they are making room for new categories, and the drama shortlist has already produced a first. Which nominee or show will actually win the newly created celebrity-led category is still the open point, and that is the part the industry will be watching when the trophies are handed out.
