# British Academy Television Award for Best Single Drama

The British Academy Television Award for Best Single Drama is one of the major categories of the British Academy Television Awards (BAFTAs), the primary awards ceremony of the British television industry. According to the BAFTA website, the category is for "a single, self-contained drama.", this "includes single films which form part of an anthology series, where each episode has a self-contained story. The same characters cannot appear in a later episode." It was awarded as Best Single Play from 1973 to 1983. Prior to that, there was a sole category for Drama Production.

## Winners and nominees
### 1970s

| Year | Title | Recipient(s) |
| 1973 | Stocker's Copper | Jack Gold |
| 1973 | The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui | Jack Gold |
| 1973 | To Encourage the Others | Alan Clarke |
| 1974 | Kisses at Fifty | Michael Apted |
| 1974 | Alice Through The Looking Glass | James MacTaggart |
| 1974 | Country Matters: The Little Farm | Silvio Narizzano |
| 1974 | Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont/Wessex Tales: The Withered Arm | Michael Lindsay-Hogg |
| 1975 | Antony and Cleopatra | Jon Scoffield |
| 1975 | Catholics | Jack Gold |
| 1975 | God Bless Thee Jackie Madison | Jack Gold |
| 1975 | Mr Axelford's Angel | John Frankau |
| 1975 | Robinson Crusoe | James MacTaggart |
| 1976 | The Evacuees | Alan Parker |
| 1976 | Shades of Greene: Cheap In August | Alvin Rakoff |
| 1976 | Eighty-Four Charing Cross Road | Mark Cullingham |
| 1976 | Just Another Saturday | John Mackenzie |
| 1976 | The Naked Civil Servant | Jack Gold |
| 1977 | Bar Mitzvah Boy | Michael Tuchner |
| 1977 | Billion Dollar Bubble | Brian Gibson |
| 1977 | Ready When You Are Mr McGill | Mike Newell |
| 1977 | Rogue Male | Clive Donner |
| 1978 | Spend, Spend, Spend | John Goldschmidt |
| 1978 | A Good Human Story/Philby, Burgess And Maclean | Gordon Flemyng |
| 1978 | Jesus of Nazareth | Franco Zeffirelli |
| 1978 | Professional Foul | Michael Lindsay-Hogg |
| 1979 | Licking Hitler | David Hare |
| 1979 | Me, I'm Afraid of Virginia Woolf | Stephen Frears |
| 1979 | The One and Only Phyllis Dixey | Michael Tuckner |
| 1979 | Thank You Comrades | Jack Gold |

### 1980s (as Best Single Play)

| Year | Title | Recipient(s) |
| 1980 | Blue Remembered Hills | Brian Gibson |
| 1980 | Churchill and the Generals | Alan Gibson |
| 1980 | The Knowledge | Bob Brooks |
| 1980 | Suez 1956 | Michael Darlow |
| 1981 | Caught on a Train | Peter Duffell |
| 1981 | Blade on the Feather | Richard Loncraine |
| 1981 | Cream In My Coffee | Gavin Millar |
| 1981 | Staying On | Silvio Narizzano |
| 1982 | Going Gently | Stephen Frears |
| 1982 | A Sense of Freedom | John Mackenzie |
| 1982 | The Potting Shed | David Cunliffe |
| 1982 | United Kingdom | Roland Joffé |

### 1980s

| Year | Title | Recipient(s) |
| 1983 | The Ballroom of Romance | Pat O'Connor |
| 1983 | P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang | Michael Apted |
| 1983 | A Voyage Round My Father | Alvin Rakoff |
| 1983 | Walter | Stephen Frears |
| 1984 | An Englishman Abroad | John Schlesinger |
| 1984 | The Country Girls | Desmond Davis |
| 1984 | Orwell On Jura | John Glenister |
| 1984 | Saigon: Year of the Cat | Stephen Frears |
| 1984 | To The Lighthouse | Colin Gregg |
| 1985 | Threads | Mick Jackson |
| 1985 | Doctor Fischer of Geneva | Michael Lindsay-Hogg |
| 1985 | The Ebony Tower | Robert Knights |
| 1985 | Oxbridge Blues | James Cellan Jones |
| 1986 | Shadowlands | Norman Stone, David M. Thompson |
| 1986 | The Browning Version | Michael Simpson, Shaun Sutton |
| 1986 | Monsignor Quixote | Rodney Bennett, Christopher Neame |
| 1986 | Silas Marner | Giles Foster, Louis Marks |
| 1987 | Screen Two: "Hotel du Lac" | Sue Birtwistle, Giles Foster |
| 1987 | Drums Along Balmoral Drive | Brenda Reid, Jane Howell |
| 1987 | The Good Doctor Bodkin Adams | Innes Lloyd, Richard Stroud |
| 1987 | Screen Two: "The Insurance Man" | Innes Lloyd, Richard Eyre |
| 1987 | London's Burning | Paul Knight, Les Blair |
| 1987 | Past Caring | Kenith Trodd, Richard Eyre |
| 1988 | Lifestory | Mick Jackson |
| 1988 | Screen Two: "After Pilkington" | Christopher Morahan, Kenith Trodd |
| 1988 | Blunt | John Glenister, Martin Thompson |
| 1988 | Screen Two: "East of Ipswich" | Tristram Powell, Innes Lloyd |
| 1989 | Tumbledown | Charles Wood, Richard Broke, Richard Eyre |
| 1989 | Talking Heads: "Bed Among the Lentils" | Alan Bennett, Innes Lloyd |
| 1989 | Talking Heads: "A Lady of Letters" | Alan Bennett, Innes Lloyd, Giles Foster |
| 1989 | Screen Two: "Sweet As You Are" | William Nicholson, Ruth Caleb, Angela Pope |

### 1990s

| Year | Title | Recipient(s) | Broadcaster |
| 1990 | Screen One: "The Accountant" | Geoffrey Case, Paul Knight, Les Blair | BBC One |
| 1990 | First and Last | Michael Frayn, Michael Wearing, Alan Dossor | BBC One |
| 1990 | Bomber Harris | Don Shaw, Innes Lloyd, Michael Darlow | BBC One |
| 1990 | Screen One: "She's Been Away" | Stephen Poliakoff, Kenith Trodd, Peter Hall | BBC One |
| 1991 | Screen One: "News Hounds" | Les Blair, Sarah Curtis | BBC One |
| 1991 | Screen Two: "Old Flames" | Simon Gray, Kenith Trodd, Christopher Morahan | BBC Two |
| 1991 | Screen One: "Can You Hear Me Thinking?" | Monty Haltrecht, Beverley Marcus, Ruth Caleb, Christopher Morahan | BBC One |
| 1991 | Shoot to Kill | Michael Eaton, Nigel Stafford-Clark, Peter Kosminsky | ITV |
| 1991 | The Widowmaker | Jeremy Brock, Deirdre Keir, John Madden | ITV |
| 1992 | Screen One: "A Question of Attribution" | Alan Bennett, Innes Lloyd, John Schlesinger | BBC One |
| 1992 | Screen Two: "102 Boulevard Haussmann" | Alan Bennett, Innes Lloyd, Udayan Prasad | BBC Two |
| 1992 | The Trials of Oz | Geoffrey Robertson, Simon Curtis, Sheree Folkson | BBC Two |
| 1992 | Screen One: "Hancock" | William Humble, Paul Marcus, Tony Smith | BBC One |
| 1993 | An Ungentlemanly Act | Bradley Adams, Stuart Urban | BBC Two |
| 1993 | Screen Two: "The Grass Arena" | Ruth Baumgarten, Gillies MacKinnon, Frank Deasy | BBC Two |
| 1993 | A Doll's House | Simon Curtis, David Thacker, Joan Tindale | BBC Two |
| 1993 | Screen Two: "Memento Mori" | Louis Marks, Jack Clayton, Alan Kelley, Jeanie Sims | BBC Two |
| 1994 | ScreenPlay: "Safe" | David M. Thompson, Antonia Bird, Al Ashton | BBC Two |
| 1994 | Screen Two: "The Clothes in the Wardrobe" | Norma Heyman, Waris Hussein, Martin Sherman | BBC Two |
| 1994 | Screen Two: "The Snapper" | Lynda Myles, Stephen Frears, Roddy Doyle | BBC Two |
| 1994 | Screen One: "Wide-Eyed and Legless" | David Lascelles, Richard Loncraine, Jack Rosenthal | BBC One |
| 1995 | Screen Two: "Skallagrigg" | John Chapman, Richard Spence, Nigel Williams | BBC Two |
| 1995 | The Dying of the Light | Peter Kosminsky, Hossein Amini | ITV |
| 1995 | Screen One: "A Breed of Heroes" | Andrée Molyneux, Diarmuid Lawrence, Charles Wood | BBC One |
| 1995 | Screen One: "Pat and Margaret" | Ruth Caleb, Gavin Millar, Victoria Wood | BBC One |
| 1995 | Stages: "Suffer the Little Children" | Jack Emery, Betsan Morris-Evans | BBC Two |
| 1996 | Screen Two: "Persuasion" | Fiona Finlay, Roger Michell, Nick Dear | BBC Two |
| 1996 | Eleven Men Against Eleven | Jimmy Mulville, Andy Hamilton | Channel 4 |
| 1996 | Go Now | Andrew Eaton, Michael Winterbottom, Paul Henry Powell, Jimmy McGovern | BBC One |
| 1996 | Heroes And Villains: The Last Englishman | Sue Vertue, John Henderson, Anthony Horowitz | BBC One |
| 1997 | Hillsborough | Nicola Shindler, Charles McDougall, Jimmy McGovern, Katy Jones | ITV |
| 1997 | Screen Two: "Crossing The Floor" | Guy Jenkin, Lissa Evans | BBC Two |
| 1997 | Screen Two: "The Precious Blood" | Robert Cooper, Anthony Rowe, John Woods, Graham Reid | BBC Two |
| 1997 | Some Kind of Life | Bill Boyes, Julian Jarrold, Kay Mellor | ITV |
| 1998 | No Child of Mine | Peter Kosminsky, Guy Hibbert | ITV |
| 1998 | Breaking the Code | Jack Emery, Herbert Wise, Hugh Whitemore | BBC Four |
| 1998 | Bumping the Odds | Ian Madden, Rob Rohrer, Rona Munro | BBC Scotland |
| 1998 | The Acid House: "The Granton Star Cause" | David Muir, Alex Usbourne, Paul McGuigan, Irvine Welsh | Channel 4 |
| 1999 | A Rather English Marriage | Joanna Willett, Paul Seed, Andrew Davies | BBC Two |
| 1999 | A Life for a Life: The True Story of Stefan Kiszko | Malcolm Craddock, Stephen Whittaker, Peter Berry | ITV |
| 1999 | Talking Heads: "Playing Sandwiches" | Mark Shivas, Udayan Prasad, Alan Bennett | BBC One |
| 1999 | Talking Heads: "Waiting for the Telegram" | Mark Shivas, Stuart Burge, Alan Bennett | BBC One |

### 2000s

| Year | Title | Recipient(s) | Broadcaster |
| 2000 | The Murder of Stephen Lawrence | Mark Redhead, Paul Greengrass | ITV |
| 2000 | Dockers | Sally Hibbin, Bill Anderson, Jimmy McGovern | Channel 4 |
| 2000 | Lost for Words | Sita Williams, Alan JW Bell, Deric Longden | ITV |
| 2000 | Sex 'N' Death | Jane Featherstone, Guy Jenkin | BBC One |
| 2001 | Care | Kieran Prendiville, Antonia Bird, Louise Panton, Ruth Caleb | BBC One |
| 2001 | Donovan Quick | Sue Austen, David Blair, Donna Franceschild | BBC Two |
| 2001 | Nice Girl | Ruth Caleb, Dominic Savage | BBC Two |
| 2001 | Storm Damage | Ian Madden, Simon Cellan Jones, Lennie James | BBC Two |
| 2002 | When I Was 12 | Ruth Caleb, Dominic Savage | BBC Two |
| 2002 | My Beautiful Son | Jeff Pope, Bob Mills, Paul Seed, Tim Kazurinsky | ITV |
| 2002 | Othello | Anne Pivcevic, Julie Gardner, Geoffrey Sax, Andrew Davies | ITV |
| 2002 | The Navigators | Rebecca O’Brien, Ken Loach, Rob Dawber | Channel 4 |
| 2003 | Conspiracy | Conspiracy | BBC Two/HBO |
| 2003 | Bloody Sunday | Mark Redhead, Paul Greengrass | ITV |
| 2003 | Flesh and Blood | Derek Wax, Julian Farino, Peter Bowker | BBC Two |
| 2003 | Tomorrow La Scala! | Ruth Caleb, Chris Collins, Francesca Joseph | BBC Two |
| 2004 | The Deal | Christine Langan, Stephen Frears, Peter Morgan | Channel 4 |
| 2004 | The Canterbury Tales: "The Wife of Bath" | Kate Bartlett, Andy De Emmony, Sally Wainwright | BBC One |
| 2004 | Danielle Cable: Eyewitness | Danielle Cable: Eyewitness | ITV |
| 2004 | This Little Life | Stewart Mackinnon, Sarah Gavron, Rosemary Kay | BBC Two |
| 2005 | Omagh | Ed Guiney, Paul Greengrass, Pete Travis, Guy Hibbert | Channel 4 |
| 2005 | Dirty Filthy Love | Christine Langan, Adrian Shergold, Jeff Pope, Ian Puleston-Davies | ITV |
| 2005 | Hawking | Jessica Pope, Peter Moffat, Philip Martin | BBC Two |
| 2005 | Not Only But Always | Alison Jackson, Terry Johnson, Charles Pattinson, George Faber | Channel 4 |
| 2006 | The Government Inspector | David Aukin, Jonathan Curling, Peter Kosminsky | Channel 4 |
| 2006 | ShakespeaRe-Told: "Much Ado About Nothing" | Diederick Santer, Brian Percival, David Nicholls | BBC One |
| 2006 | The Queen's Sister | Kath Mattock, Simon Cellan Jones, Craig Warner | Channel 4 |
| 2006 | Red Dust | Red Dust | BBC Two |
| 2007 | Housewife, 49 | Victoria Wood, Piers Wenger, Gavin Millar, David Threlfall | ITV |
| 2007 | Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa! | Andy De Emmony, Ben Evans, Martyn Hesford | BBC Four |
| 2007 | Longford | Peter Morgan, Tom Hooper, Helen Flint, Andy Harries | Channel 4 |
| 2007 | The Road to Guantánamo | Michael Winterbottom, Mat Whitecross | Channel 4 |
| 2008 | The Mark of Cain | Tony Marchant, Nicola Shindler, Lynn Horsford, Marc Munden | Channel 4 |
| 2008 | Boy A | John Crowley, Lynn Horsford, Mark O'Rowe | Channel 4 |
| 2008 | Coming Down the Mountain | Greg Brenman, Roanna Benn, Mark Haddon, Julie Anne Robinson | BBC One |
| 2008 | The Trial of Tony Blair | Alistair Beaton, Simon Cellan Jones, Hal Vogel, David Aukin | More4 |
| 2009 | White Girl | Hettie Macdonald, Abi Morgan, Andrew Woodhead | BBC Two |
| 2009 | Hancock and Joan | Richard Cottan, Richard Laxton, Simon Heath | BBC Four |
| 2009 | Einstein and Eddington | George Faber, Mark Pybus, Peter Moffat, Philip Martin | BBC Two |
| 2009 | The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall | Simon Block, Rowan Joffé, Barney Reisz, Charles Furneaux | Channel 4 |

### 2010s

| Year | Title | Recipient(s) | Broadcaster |
| 2010 | The Unloved | Samantha Morton, Tony Grisoni, Kate Ogborn, Andrew Eaton | Channel 4 |
| 2010 | Five Minutes of Heaven | Guy Hibbert, Oliver Hirschbiegel, Eoin O'Callaghan, Stephen Wright | BBC Two |
| 2010 | Mo | Jeff Pope, Neil McKay, Lisa Gilchrist, Philip Martin | Channel 4 |
| 2010 | A Short Stay in Switzerland | Liz Trubridge, Simon Curtis, Frank McGuinness, Ruth Caleb | BBC One |
| 2011 | The Road to Coronation Street | The Road to Coronation Street | BBC Four |
| 2011 | Eric and Ernie | Victoria Wood, Peter Bowker, Tim Bricknell, Jonny Campbell | BBC Two |
| 2011 | I Am Slave | Andrea Calderwood, Gabriel Range, Jeremy Brock | Channel 4 |
| 2011 | The Special Relationship | The Special Relationship | BBC Two |
| 2012 | Random | Polly Leys, Kate Norrish, Debbie Tucker Green | Channel 4 |
| 2012 | Holy Flying Circus | Owen Harris, Polly Leys, Kate Norrish, Tony Roche | BBC Four |
| 2012 | Page Eight | David Barron, David Hare, David Heyman, Bill Nighy | BBC Two |
| 2012 | Stolen | Stephen Butchard, Justin Chadwick, Rebecca Hodgson, Sita Williams | BBC One |
| 2013 | Murder | Robert Jones, Birger Larsen, Kath Mattock | BBC Two |
| 2013 | Everyday | Michael Winterbottom, Melissa Parmenter, Laurence Coriat, Andrew Eaton | Channel 4 |
| 2013 | The Girl | Julian Jarrold, Gwyneth Hughes, Amanda Jenks, Leanne Klein | BBC Two |
| 2013 | The Hollow Crown: "Richard II" | Rupert Goold, Pippa Harris, Sam Mendes, Rupert Ryle-Hodges | BBC Two |
| 2014 | Complicit | Guy Hibbert, Niall MacCormick, Kevin Toolis, Jolyon Symonds | Channel 4 |
| 2014 | The Wipers Times | David Parfitt, Andy De Emmony, Ian Hislop, Nick Newman | BBC Two |
| 2014 | An Adventure in Space and Time | Mark Gatiss, Matt Strevens, Terry McDonough, Caroline Skinner | BBC Two |
| 2014 | Black Mirror: "Be Right Back" | Barney Reisz, Charlie Brooker, Owen Harris, Annabel Jones | Channel 4 |
| 2015 | Marvellous | Peter Bowker, Julian Farino, Katie Swinden, Patrick Spence | BBC Two |
| 2015 | Common | Jimmy McGovern, David Blair, Colin McKeown, Donna Molloy | BBC One |
| 2015 | Murdered by My Boyfriend | Pier Wilkie, Regina Moriarty, Paul Andrew Williams, Darren Kemp | BBC Three |
| 2015 | A Poet in New York | Aisling Walsh, Ruth Caleb, Andrew Davies, Griff Rhys Jones | BBC Two |
| 2016 | Don't Take My Baby | Jack Thorne, Ben Anthony, Pier Wilkie, Aysha Rafaele | BBC Three |
| 2016 | The C Word | Susan Hogg, Simon Lewis, Nicole Taylor, Tim Kirkby | BBC One |
| 2016 | The Go-Between | Claire Bennett, Susan Hogg, Adrian Hodges, Pete Travis | BBC One |
| 2016 | Cyberbully | Richard Bond, Ben Chanan, David Lobatto, Leah Cooper | Channel 4 |
| 2017 | Damilola, Our Loved Boy | Levi David Addai, Euros Lyn, Susan Horth, Colin Barr | BBC One |
| 2017 | Murdered by My Father | Bruce Goodison, Toby Welch, Vinay Patel, Aysha Rafaele | BBC Three |
| 2017 | Aberfan: The Green Hollow | Pip Broughton, Bethan Jones, Jenna Robbins, Owen Sheers | BBC One |
| 2017 | NW | NW | BBC Two |
| 2018 | Murdered for Being Different | Aysha Rafaele, Scott Bassett, Paul Andrew Williams, Nick Leather | BBC Three |
| 2018 | Against the Law | Aysha Rafaele, Scott Bassett, Fergus O'Brien, Brian Fillis | BBC Two |
| 2018 | King Charles III | Mike Bartlett, Greg Brenman, Rupert Goold, Simon Maloney | BBC Two |
| 2018 | Black Mirror: "Hang the DJ" | Charlie Brooker, Annabel Jones, Tim Van Patten, Nick Pitt | Netflix |
| 2019 | Killed by My Debt | Joseph Bullman, Tahsin Guner, Chris Clough, Aysha Rafaele | BBC Three |
| 2019 | Black Mirror: "Bandersnatch" | Charlie Brooker, Annabel Jones, David Slade, Russell McLean | Netflix |
| 2019 | Care | Donna Molloy, Colin McKeown, Gillian Juckes, David Blair | BBC One |
| 2019 | Through the Gates (On The Edge) | Lisa Walters, Stella Corradi, Georgia Christou, Ben Bickerton | Channel 4 |

### 2020s

| Year | Title | Recipient(s) | Broadcaster |
| 2020 | The Left Behind | Alan Harris, Joseph Bullman, Aysha Rafaele, Tracie Simpson | BBC Three |
| 2020 | Brexit: The Uncivil War | Brexit: The Uncivil War | Channel 4 |
| 2020 | Elizabeth is Missing | Andrea Gibb, Aisling Walsh, Sarah Brown, Chrissy Skinns | BBC One |
| 2020 | Responsible Child | Responsible Child | BBC Two |
| 2021 | Sitting in Limbo | Sitting in Limbo | BBC One |
| 2021 | BBW (On the Edge) | Ben Bickerton, Philip Trethowan, Lisa Walters, William Stefan Smith, Yolanda Mercy | Channel 4 |
| 2021 | Anthony | Jimmy McGovern, Colin McKeown, Donna Molloy, Terry McDonough | BBC One |
| 2021 | The Windermere Children | Eleanor Greene, Leanne Klein, Tim Rostock, Simon Block, Michael Samuels, Alison Sterling | BBC Two |
| 2022 | Together | Together | BBC Two |
| 2022 | Help | Help | Channel 4 |
| 2022 | I Am... Victoria | Dominic Savage, Krishnendu Majumdar, Richard Yee, Suranne Jones, Josh Hyams, David Charap | Channel 4 |
| 2022 | Death of England: Face to Face | Clint Dyer, Dixie Linder, David Sabel, Rufus Norris, Christine Schwarzman, Roy Williams | Sky Arts |
| 2023 | I Am... Ruth | Dominic Savage, Krishnendu Majumdar, Josh Hyams, Kate Winslet, Richard Yee, David Charap | Channel 4 |
| 2023 | The House | Paloma Baeza, Niki Lindroth von Bahr, Emma de Swaef, Marc James Roels, Charlotte Bavasso, Christopher O'Reilly | Netflix |
| 2023 | Life and Death in the Warehouse | Joseph Bullman, Helen Black, Tracie Simpson, Aysha Rafaele, Tim Hodges, Steve Lawes | BBC Three |
* Note: The series that don't have recipients on the tables had Production team credited as recipients for the award or nomination.