Sharon D Clarke Was Nominated for a BAFTA and an Olivier in the Same Award Season

In the same award season, Sharon D Clarke was nominated for two performances that have almost nothing in common: a blindsided wife on BBC One, and Oscar Wilde's most imperious grande dame at the National Theatre. The British Academy Television Awards nominated her for Carmel Walker in "Mr. Loverman." The Laurence Olivier Awards nominated her for Lady Bracknell in "The Importance of Being Earnest." The two nominations landed about a month apart, one for television and one for theatre.

Photo by Linda Hartley, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

"Mr. Loverman" is an eight-part BBC One drama that aired from October 14 to November 4, 2024, adapted from Bernardine Evaristo's 2013 novel of the same name — six years before Evaristo went on to share the 2019 Booker Prize for "Girl, Woman, Other." Clarke plays Carmel Walker, wife of Barrington "Barry" Walker (Lennie James), a 74-year-old Windrush-generation Londoner who has spent decades secretly in love with his childhood friend Morris. The series follows what happens once that double life comes apart, telling the story from both Barry's and Carmel's points of view.

Photo by Linda Hartley, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The 2025 British Academy Television Awards were held on May 11, 2025, at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Clarke was nominated for Best Actress alongside Marisa Abela ("Industry"), Monica Dolan ("Mr Bates vs The Post Office"), Anna Maxwell Martin ("Until I Kill You"), Lola Petticrew ("Say Nothing"), and Billie Piper ("Scoop"). Abela won. "Mr. Loverman" still left the ceremony with two BAFTAs: James won Leading Actor, and Ariyon Bakare won Supporting Actor.

Weeks earlier, Clarke had been on stage at the National Theatre's Lyttelton auditorium in Max Webster's revival of "The Importance of Being Earnest," playing Lady Bracknell opposite Ncuti Gatwa as Algernon Moncrieff and Hugh Skinner as Jack Worthing. The production ran from November 2024 to January 2025.

The 2025 Laurence Olivier Awards were held on April 6, 2025, at the Royal Albert Hall. Clarke was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, alongside Romola Garai (nominated twice, for "Giant" and "The Years") and Gina McKee ("The Years"). Garai won, for "The Years." It was Clarke's first Olivier nomination since her third win, for "Death of a Salesman" in 2020 — she'd previously won for "The Amen Corner" in 2014 and "Caroline, or Change" in 2019.

"The Importance of Being Earnest" later transferred to the West End's Noël Coward Theatre, running from September 18, 2025, to January 10, 2026, and the National Theatre's filmed recording of the original production is now available to stream through National Theatre at Home.