Favourite Actress

Which actress deserves the 2016 TV Times Award? Vote for the woman who you believe is a worthy winner of this year's honour

Keeley Hawes - Line of Duty — (Image credit: BBC/World Productions/Steffan Hi)

Keeley Hawes Keeley showed her true range as an actress this year, putting in markedly different performances in ITV’s sunny series, The Durrells, and BBC2’s police thriller, Line of Duty. Keeley was enthralling as the mysterious disgraced ex cop Lindsay Denton, while she delighted viewers as Louisa Durrell in one of the most popular shows of the year.

Jenna Coleman - Victoria on ITV — (Image credit: ITV)

Jenna Coleman How do you follow life in the TARDIS? Well, Jenna decided to embark on a bit more time travelling to play Queen Victoria in ITV’s fabulous historical drama, Victoria. Jenna showed how the young monarch took the throne at the tender age of 18, falling in love first with her Prime Minister and then embarking on a passionate romance with the future Prince Albert.

Eleanor Tomlinson Eleanor has made a huge impact as Ross’s wife Demelza in Poldark. However, although some might be jealous of being married to the dashing hero, it’s fair to say it’s not easy being Mrs P. Demelza and Poldark seem to lurch from one disaster to the next, but could things finally be looking up in this series?

War & Peace - Lily James — (Image credit: BBC/Laurie Sparham)

Lily James Having made her name as Rose in Downton Abbey, Lily has become a Hollywood star after playing the lead in Cinderella. So, it was something of a coup for the BBC to get her to star in their adaptation of War & Peace. Lily was wonderful as heroine Natasha Rostova in the epic drama, which attracted more than six million viewers per episode.

Sarah Lancashire The former Corrie star reinforced her reputation as one of Britain’s finest actresses in the second series of Happy Valley. She once again grabbed the attention of audiences as no-nonsense police sergeant Catherine, who again faced serial killer Tommy Lee Royce in the Sally Wainwright thriller.

Penelope Wilton After the end of Downton Abbey, it was something of a surprise to see Penelope pop up in a racy series about Ann Summers parties! In ITV’s Brief Encounters, Penelope starred as lonely butcher’s wife Pauline. We wonder what Isobel Crawley would have made of Pauline’s saucy outfits!

David is the What To Watch Editor and has over 20 years of experience in television journalism. He is currently writing about the latest television and film news for What To Watch.

Before working for What To Watch, David spent many years working for TV Times magazine, interviewing some of television's most famous stars including Hollywood actor Kiefer Sutherland, singer Lionel Richie and wildlife legend Sir David Attenborough.

David started out as a writer for TV Times before becoming the title's deputy features editor and then features editor. During his time on TV Times, David also helped run the annual TV Times Awards. David is a huge Death in Paradise fan, although he's still failed to solve a case before the show's detective! He also loves James Bond and controversially thinks that Timothy Dalton was an excellent 007.

Other than watching and writing about telly, David loves playing cricket, going to the cinema, trying to improve his tennis and chasing about after his kids!