- Rebus creator Ian Rankin - ITV3
Nerves are jangling even more than usual in the world of murder-and-mayhem fiction as the panel of authors, publishers, broadcasters and journalists, organised by UK television network ITV3, deliberates and judges the categories. For fans, the whole event – the ceremony and TV programming leading up to it – is a crime-fest to relish.
The Author of the Year category is focusing on Britain’s top crime writers. The 2008 contenders are Peter James (Not Dead Enough, Pan), Robert Harris (The Ghost, Hutchinson), Lee Child (Bad Luck and Trouble, Bantam) and Ian Rankin (Exit Music, Orion).
Nominees for International Author are Jeffery Deaver (The Sleeping Doll, Hodder & Stoughton), Stieg Larsson (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Quercus), Karin Slaughter (Skin Privilege, Arrow) and PJ Tracy (Snow Blind, Penguin).
Among the TV nominees are The Wire, CSI, Ashes to Ashes and Dexter, while the movie contenders include The Bourne Ultimatum, Gone Baby Gone and – perhaps stretching the genre a bit – The Dark Knight.
The awards will be announced at a glam ceremony in London’s Grosvenor House Hotel on 3rd October, and shown on ITV3 three days later (Monday 6th October, 10pm). Each prize will be presented by authors or actors famed for their crime-thriller work.
Alan Davies, who stars as BBC sleuth Jonathan Creek and will be ceremony host, says, ‘The nominees for the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards are so varied – from Ashes to Ashes to The Dark Knight – it really highlights the breadth of the crime-thriller genre and the amazing standard of work that is available at the moment.’
On the night there will also be a special announcement for the first three authors to be inducted into the International Crime Writing Hall of Fame.
An added bonus for ITV3 viewers has been six weeks of special crime programming, including specially commissioned documentaries on Britain’s major contemporary writers – Colin Dexter, Ian Rankin, PD James, Lynda La Plante, Val McDermid and Ruth Rendell. Fans of these writers can vote here for their favourite to win the ITV3 Writer’s Award for Classic TV Drama.
The other nominees:
Breakthrough Author of the Year
Chelsea Cain (Heartsick, Pan), Stuart MacBride (Broken Skin, Harper), Michael Robotham (Shatter, Sphere) and Anne Zouroudi (The Messenger of Athens, Bloomsbury).
Film
The Bourne Ultimatum, The Dark Knight, Gone Baby Gone and No Country for Old Men.
TV Crime Drama
Ashes to Ashes (BBC), He Kills Coppers (ITV), Criminal Justice (BBC), The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (BBC), Spooks (BBC), Wire in the Blood (ITV).
International TV Crime Drama
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Wire, Dexter, Numb3rs, CSI: Miami, Shark
Best Actress
Kelly Reilly (He Kills Coppers), Jill Scott (The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency), Amanda Redman (New Tricks), Hermione Norris (Spooks), Keeley Hawes (Ashes to Ashes)
Best Actor
Philip Glenister (Ashes to Ashes), James Nesbitt (Midnight Man & Murphy’s Law), Rupert Penry-Jones (Spooks), Dominic West (The Wire), Ben Whishaw (Criminal Justice)
Robin Jarossi - London-based journalist and editor specialising in TV, sport and books. I was the editor of 'Cable Guide' and have worked at 'Radio ...
