With prestige shows proliferating across an ever-increasing army of streamers alongside terrestrial channels, there’s never been a more exciting time for TV in Australia.
The AACTA Awards have now announced their TV nominations for 2026. Presented by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts, voting is done by AACTA members and winners will be announced at a ceremony on 6 February 2026.
Here are our predictions across the major categories.
AACTA Awards for TV – quick links
Best drama series
The nominations for the AACTA Award for Best Drama Series are:
- Bay of Fires
- Black Snow Jack of Clubs
- Mystery Road: Origin
- The Family Next Door
- The Newsreader
- The Twelve: Cape Rock Killer
Whether murder most foul is mushroom-related or not, Australian TV viewers can’t get enough of crime dramas. So it is that we have second seasons of small town mysteries, with the ABC’s Bay of Fires, Mystery Road: Origin and Sally Hepworth adaptation The Family Next Door, as well as Stan’s Black Snow and Binge’s The Twelve: Cape Rock Killer.
They all scratch that insatiable itch, but we suspect that team at the fictional News at 6 will win the day with the grand finale of The Newsreader, a series which reflects our history back at us with a minimal (though not negligible) death count.
Best lead actress in a drama
Up for the Best Lead Actress in a Drama award are:
- Alycia Debnam-Carey, Apple Cider Vinegar
- Aisha Dee, Watching You
- Kaitlyn Dever, Apple Cider Vinegar
- Tuuli Narkle, Mystery Road: Origin
- Teresa Palmer, Mix Tape
- Anna Torv, The Newsreader
While Aisha Dee and Tuuli Narkle excelled once again, and with Kaitlyn Dever and Alycia Debnam-Carey splitting the Apple Cider Vinegar vote, we reckon the path is clear for Anna Torv to take it home for her astonishing arc as newsreader Helen Norville.
Best supporting actress in a drama
For supporting roles, the nominations are:
- Essie Davis, Apple Cider Vinegar
- Aisha Dee, Apple Cider Vinegar
- Michelle Lim Davidson, The Newsreader
- Robyn Malcolm, Mystery Road: Origin
- Heather Mitchell, The Narrow Road to the Deep North
- Susie Porter, Apple Cider Vinegar
It’s an embarrassment of riches again. Probably down to a coin toss between Michelle Lim Davidson and Heather Mitchell, though AACTA voters might lean towards the longest-serving (and sterling) career of Mitchell.
Best lead actor in a drama
The nominees for Best Lead Actor in a Drama are:
- Mark Coles Smith, Mystery Road: Origin
- Jacob Elordi, The Narrow Road to the Deep North
- Travis Fimmel, Black Snow Jack of Clubs
- Sam Neill, The Twelve: Cape Rock Killer
- Hunter Page-Lochard, Reckless
- Sam Reid, The Newsreader
While Hunter Page-Lochard is magnificent in Reckless, his inclusion here is category hijinks – the show’s very much a dark comedy.
With the field this stacked with talent, it’s crazy we’d look past Mark Coles Smith, Travis Fimmel and Sams Neill and Sam Reid. But the Hollywood effect suggests a magnificent Jacob Elordi will triumph for his deeply soulful turn in The Narrow Road to the Deep North.
Best supporting actor in a drama
The nominations for a supporting role are:
- Luke Carroll, Mystery Road: Origin
- Mark Coles Smith, Apple Cider Vinegar
- Daniel Henshall, The Family Next Door
- Daniel Henshall, The Newsreader
- Matt Nable, Apple Cider Vinegar
- Ashley Zukerman, Apple Cider Vinegar
Why do the AACTAs send way more awards the way of drama than comedy? A debate for another day, but looking at this mighty array, splitting six noms across only four shows, we think Mark Coles Smith might just swing it.
Best miniseries
The nominations for the AACTA Award for Best Miniseries are:
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Invisible Boys
- Mix Tape
- The Last Anniversary
- The Narrow Road to the Deep North
- The Survivors
These compact shows prove you can pack plenty of punch in a short run. Crims, of course, show up again, with Netflix fielding their take on cancer scammer Belle Gibson’s disgrace, Apple Cider Vinegar, as well as The Survivors, while Binge gave us the latest, if least intriguing, Liane Moriarty adaptation, The Last Anniversary.
Proving that award season’s not all murder and mayhem, Binge also scores big with a nomination for tender love story Mix Tape and, before Heated Rivalry hogged the headlines, Stan steamed things up with their take on author Holden Sheppard’s Invisible Boys.
But we reckon the award will go to another sterling literary adaptation, Prime Video’s elegiac rendering of Richard Flanagan’s Booker Prize-winning novel, The Narrow Road to the Deep North.
Best documentary or factual program
The nominees for the documentary category are:
- End Game with Tony Armstrong
- I Was Actually There
- The Assembly
- The Kimberley
- The People vs Robodebt
- Who Do You Think You Are?
Our twin public broadcasters have romped it in, with our money on Ben Lawrence’s devasting The People vs Robodebt on SBS, with him probably winning Best Direction in Nonfiction Television too.
Best Narrative Comedy Series
Nominees for the AACTA Awards Best Narrative Comedy Series category are:
- Austin
- Bump
- Ghosts
- Mother and Son
- Strife
- Top End Bub
Deadloch proved you don’t need to choose between killing and killer laughs, but season two hasn’t dropped yet. Instead, the nominees in this category primarily focus on family, found or otherwise.
Contenders include the final run of Stan’s Bump, new seasons of ABC shows Austin and Mother and Son, Prime Video’s check-in on Top End Bub, Paramount+/Network Ten’s local outing of spooky-cool franchise Ghosts and Binge’s publishing satire Strife.
It’s a tight race, but we reckon Asher Keddie & Co might just pip Claudia Karvan’s crew.
Best acting in a comedy
The nominees for the Best Acting in a Comedy award are:
- Claudia Karvan, Bump
- Asher Keddie, Strife
- Ben Miller, Austin
- Sally Phillips, Austin
- Angus Sampson, Bump
- Denise Scott, Mother and Son
- Miranda Tapsell, Top End Bub
- Michael Theo, Austin
It really has been a sterling year for homegrown comedy, so it’s a tough one to call. But we think Claudia Karvan will wrest the statuette from Asher Keddie on account of her heartbreaking exit from Bump (no murder involved) even if it didn’t stick long.
Best direction in drama or comedy
The nominations for the AACTA Award for Best Direction in a drama or comedy are:
- Apple Cider Vinegar, Jeffrey Walker
- Mix Tape, Lucy Gaffy
- The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Justin Kurzel
- The Newsreader, Emma Freeman
- The Twelve: Cape Rock Killer, Madeleine Gottlieb
We can’t go past Justin Kurzel’s astounding work on The Narrow Road to the Deep North.
Best screenplay in television
The nominees for the AACTA award for the Best Screenplay in Television are:
- Apple Cider Vinegar, Angela Betzien
- Apple Cider Vinegar, Samantha Strauss
- Mix Tape, Jo Spain
- The Newsreader, Michael Lucas
- The Twelve: Cape Rock Killer, Sarah L Walker
Wonder women dominate the screenplay category this year, with TV increasingly offering more opportunities than the local film scene.
We think Apple Cider Vinegar creator Samantha Strauss, adapting the non-fiction book The Woman Who Fooled the World by Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano, will bring it home for the show’s final episode.
