British Academy Television Award for Best Actress

This is a list of the British Academy Television Awards for Best Actress.

The Best Actress award was initially given as an "individual honour", without credit to a particular performance, until 1969, when Wendy Craig won for her performance in Not in Front of the Children.

Julie Walters holds the record of most wins in this category with four, followed by Dame Judi Dench, Thora Hird, and Dame Helen Mirren, with three wins each.

The award is currently held by Sarah Lancashire having won most recently in 2024 for Happy Valley.

Note: Julie Walters' two mentions in 2010, count as two separate nominations.

Two-time winner, Gwen Watford .
Vanessa Redgrave won this award in 1967
Judi Dench has received this award three times, for Talking to a Stranger (1968), Going Gently / A Fine Romance / The Cherry Orchard (all three in 1982) and The Last of the Blonde Bombshells (2001).
Lee Remick won for Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill in 1975.
Siân Phillips won for How Green Was My Valley and I, Claudius in 1977.
Penelope Keith won this award in 1978 for The Norman Conquests
Peggy Ashcroft has won this award twice, for Cream in My Coffee and Caught on a Train (both in 1981) and The Jewel in the Crown (1985).
Beryl Reid won in 1983 for Smiley's People .
Coral Browne won for An Englishman Abroad in 1984.
Claire Bloom won for Shadowlands in 1986.
Emma Thompson won in 1988 for Fortunes of War and Tutti Frutti .
Diana Rigg won in 1990 for Mother Love .
Helen Mirren has won three consecutive times, all for the three first seasons of Prime Suspect in 1992, 1993 and 1994.
Jennifer Ehle won for Pride and Prejudice in 1996.
Thora Hird has won three times, for A Cream Cracker under the Settee (1989) and Waiting for the Telegram (1999), both from the series Talking Heads , and Lost for Words (2000).
Julie Walters won three consecutive times, for My Beautiful Son (2002), Murder (2003), The Canterbury Tales (2004) and Mo (2010).
Anamaria Marinca won for Sex Traffic in 2005.
Victoria Wood won for Housewife, 49 in 2007.
Eileen Atkins won for Cranford in 2008, she also won a Primetime Emmy Award for the role.
Vicky McClure won the award for This Is England '86 in 2010
Emily Watson won for Appropriate Adult in 2012.
Sheridan Smith won in 2013 for Mrs Biggs ..
Olivia Colman won for Broadchurch in 2014.
Georgina Campbell won for Murdered by My Boyfriend in 2015.
Jodie Comer has won twice, in 2019 for Killing Eve and in 2022 for Help .
Glenda Jackson won in 2020 for Elizabeth Is Missing , she also won an International Emmy Award for Best Actress for the role.
Kate Winslet won for I Am... Ruth (2023)