ASTRA Awards: It’s Top of the Lake vs Wentworth

Tonight is the 12th ASTRA Awards in Sydney, a chance for Subscription Television to celebrate its last 12 months.

The night will rightfully remember Charlotte Dawson -ironically, not nominated this year- but I’m very curious to see how the Drama awards pan out.

While it was a soft year on quantity (only 2 local dramas) it wasn’t soft on quality: both Top of the Lake and Wentworth were excellent productions.

The latter is produced for the Foxtel owned and operated channel SoHo, while the former on UKTV is not.

As much as I enjoyed Wentworth, hand on my heart I would vote for Top of the Lake as the superior of the two. It also has Emmy and Golden Globe wins, so how can it not rightly win at a local awards night? But politics may have a hand in reinforcing the enduring brand of Wentworth...

So here is how I see this playing out: Top of the Lake wins Most Outstanding Drama while Wentworth wins Favourite Australian Programme. Every child wins a prize.

The acting categories are much tougher to navigate.

Most Outstanding Performance By An Actor – Female
• Elisabeth Moss, Top of the Lake (UKTV)
• Danielle Cormack, Wentworth (SoHo)
• Nicole da Silva, Wentworth (SoHo)
• Kris McQuade, Wentworth (SoHo)

Moss already has an Emmy and Golden Globe for her work. Kris McQuade is the only one who can come close here. It’s a shame Holly Hunter and Robyn Nevin are not nominated here.

Most Outstanding Performance By An Actor – Male
• Peter Mullan, Top of the Lake (UKTV)
• David Wenham, Top of the Lake (UKTV)
• Aaron Jeffery, Wentworth (SoHo)
• Robbie Magasiva, Wentworth (SoHo)

As much as I enjoyed Robbie Magasiva’s work, Peter Mullan deserves this. He also has an Emmy nomination for this role.

In other categories I would tip:

Most Outstanding Children’s Content
• Play Along with Sam

Most Outstanding Music Program
• STUDIO at the MEMO

Most Outstanding Factual Program
• The People Speak

Most Outstanding Lifestyle Program
• Selling Houses Australia

Most Outstanding Performance By A Broadcast Journalist
• David Speers, PM Agenda, The Nation, Election Coverage

Most Outstanding New Talent
• Shareena Clanton, Wentworth

Favourite Program: International
• Game of Thrones, Showcase

Favourite Personality: Male
• Andrew Winter, Selling Houses Australia

…and the rest are too hard!