Most Powerful Women in British TV: Olivia Colman, Mary Berry and Clare Balding Top Radio Times List
Peep Show and Broadchurch star Olivia Colman, Great British Bake Off judge Mary Berry and BBC presenter Clare Balding have been named the top three most influential women in television and radio, in a "power list" published by the Radio Times.
The magazine said a "revolution" in television had taken place, with "more and more British women dominating the screens and airwaves both on and off screen".
Sheridan Smith, who plays Cilla Black in ITV's biopic, and Sarah Lancashire who featured in the BBC drama Last Tango in Halifax, also appear on the list.
Off-screen talent recognised includes chief creative officer of Channel 4 Jay Hunt and Sue Vertue, who produced BBC's Sherlock.
Under the leadership of Hunt, Channel 4 was named Channel of the Year at the 2014 Edinburgh International Television Festival.
The list was devised by Alison Graham, television editor at the Radio Times; Jenni Murray, presenter of Woman's Hour; Emma Freud, Comic Relief co-founder; Pointless producer Richard Osman and Victoria Brooks, director of Milk Publicity.
Graham, who chaired the panel that drew up the list, said women were moving on from playing victims in crime dramas and paving the way for gender equality in the future of television.
"A revolution has been rumbling quietly in the background and it's now reached the foreground as clever, talented and formidable women prove that our gender provides much more than disposable props," she said, adding that Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly will co-host Strictly Come Dancing in autumn.
"Yes, two women hosting one of the biggest shows on television, all by themselves! The fact that this is such a big deal in 2014 shows just how pitifully slowly television has reacted to the seismic changes in wider society," Graham said.
Writers on the list include Heidi Thomas, who wrote and produced the 2010 revival of the British television drama Upstairs, Downstairs and received the Writers' Guild of Great Britain award for Best TV Series for Cranford. Abi Morgan, whose work on Shame earned her a Bafta Award for Outstanding British Film nomination, came in at 18th place.
The full list is as follows:
Olivia Colman, actor
Mary Berry, presenter
Clare Balding, presenter
Julie Walters, actor
Victoria Wood, comedian
Dawn French, comedian/actor
Sheridan Smith, actor
Mary Beard, presenter
Sarah Lancashire, actor
Joanna Lumley, actor
Claudia Winkleman, presenter
Sarah Millican, comedian
Kirstie Allsopp, presenter
Miranda Hart, comedian
Anne Reid, actor
Kirsty Wark, presenter
Heidi Thomas, writer
Abi Morgan, writer
Beryl Vertue, producer
Sue Vertue, producer
Jay Hunt, chief creative officer, Channel 4
Sally Wainwright, writer
Nicola Shindler, founder, Red production company
Elisabeth Murdoch, founder, Shine production company
Pippa Harris, co-founder Neal Street Productions
Charlotte Moore, controller, BBC1
Helen Boaden, director, BBC Radio
Anne Mensah, head of drama, Sky
Hilary Bevan Jones, producer
Kim Shillinglaw, controller, BBC2
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