Critics' Circle recognition for The Ballad of Wallis Island.

Tom Basden and Tim Key are up for more film awards for their comedy The Ballad of Wallis Island.

The movie – directed by James Griffiths, from a script by the two comedians – is up for British or Irish film of the year in the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards.

It faces competition from Harry Lighton’s queer drama Pillion, Chloé Zhao’s historical drama Hamnet, Yorgos Lanthimos’ sci-fi satire Bugonia, and Kirk Jones’s I Swear, about a Tourette’s sufferer. 

Basden and Key – who also star as a musician and his eccentric fan – are also nominated for breakthrough British/Irish filmmaker of the year. There they are up against Lighton as well as  Laura Carreira for On Falling, Akinola Davies Jr. for My Father’s Shadow and Harris Dickinson for Urchin.

The comedians previously won best joint lead performance and best screenplay at the British Independent Film Awards, where Basden and composer Adem Ilhan won best original music.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another topped the nominations for the 46th Critics’ Circle awards, securing nine nods overall, followed by Hamnet, with eight. 

Winners will be announced in London on February 1 during a ceremony hosted by critic Mark Kermode.

Published: 15 Dec 2025