There will be marmalade sandwiches all round after the Paddington film was shortlisted for a high-brow arts award alongside cross-dressing potter Grayson Perry and an all-female Shakespeare production.

The film, based on Michael Bond’s books and featuring Ben Whishaw as the voice of the famous bear, was a surprise hit passing the 200 million US dollar (£136m) mark at the box office.

Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Johansson (Rob Latour/Invision)

It is up against Scarlett Johansson’s science-fiction film Under The Skin and Pride, the tale of gay rights activists who support striking miners in the 1980s, at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards.

The annual awards, hosted by the show’s veteran presenter Melvyn Bragg, recognise the best in the arts including dance, opera, comedy and TV drama.

The theatre category sees the Donmar Warehouse’s Henry IV take on The Young Vic’s A View From The Bridge and King Charles III – which looks at what might happen when the Prince of Wales ascends to the throne.

Sam Smith (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
Sam Smith (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Sam Smith, FKA Twigs and Young Fathers will fight it out in the pop category.

The TV categories are dominated by the BBC with all three shortlisted dramas – Line Of Duty, Happy Valley and The Honourable Woman – coming from the corporation.

Two of the three comedies are also from the BBC, W1A and The Trip To Italy, with Sky’s Doll & Em also in the running.

Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan star in The Trip to Italy (John Phillips/AP)
Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan star in The Trip To Italy (John Phillips/AP)

Other nominees include Perry who is shortlisted in the Visual Arts category for his Channel 4 series Who Are You? which also tied in with an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.

Bragg said: “Yet again we turn up with a cracking range of talent across the arts. At present, British artists are on song. Many of those nominated are not only British, but world class artists.”

The awards are handed out at an event at The Savoy Hotel on Sunday June 7 with the ceremony shown on Sky Arts 1 on Wednesday June 10.

Melvyn Bragg hosts the awards (Ian West/PA)
Melvyn Bragg hosts the awards (Ian West/PA)

Winners will get an award designed by a student from the Glasgow School of Art.

The South Bank Sky Arts 2015 Awards Nominees:

Dance

  • A Dream within a Midsummer Night’s Dream – Ballet Black
  • Lest We Forget – English National Ballet
  • The Winter’s Tale – The Royal Ballet

Opera

  • Die Frau Ohne Schatten – The Royal Opera House
  • Moses Und Aron – Welsh National Opera
  • Khovanskygate: A National Enquiry- Birmingham Opera Company

Literature

  • Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death And Brain Surgery – Henry Marsh
  • H Is For Hawk – Helen MacDonald
  • Us – David Nicholls

Pop

FKA Twigs
FKA Twigs (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
  • LP1 – FKA Twigs
  • Dead – Young Fathers
  • In The Lonely Hour – Sam Smith

Film

  • Pride
  • Paddington
  • Under The Skin

Visual Art

  • Dock, Tate Britain – Phyllida Barlow
  • Blood Swept Lands And Seas of Red, Tower of London – Paul Cummins and Tom Piper
  • Who Are You? Channel 4 and National Portrait Gallery – Grayson Perry

Comedy

  • Doll & Em – Sky Living
  • W1A – BBC Two
  • The Trip To Italy – BBC Two

TV Drama

Happy Valley
Sarah Lancashire starred in Happy Valley (BBC)
  • Line Of Duty, Series 2 – BBC Two
  • Happy Valley – BBC One
  • The Honourable Woman – BBC Two

Theatre

  • A View From The Bridge – Young Vic
  • King Charles III – Almeida Theatre / Wyndham’s Theatre
  • Henry IV – Donmar Warehouse

Classical

  • 40 Years Young – Arditti Quartet
  • The Birmingham Beethoven Cycle: Symphonies 8 & 9 -City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
  • Peter Maxwell Davies’ Symphony No. 10, Alla ricerca di Borromini – London Symphony Orchestra