| BAFTA Winners Announced |
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| Written by Spanner | |
| Monday, 05 May 2008 | |
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Harry
Hill and Gavin and Stacey both claimed double victories at this year’s
British Academy Television Awards supported by Sky+ and hosted by
Graham Norton. Harry Hill picked up two coveted BAFTA masks for Harry
Hill’s TV Burp in the Entertainment Programme[i] category (beating
Strictly Come Dancing, Have I Got News For You and Britain’s Got
Talent) and in the Entertainment Performance category for the same
programme. James Corden took the prize for Comedy Performance for Gavin and Stacey and the show won the Sky+ Audience Award, the only Award voted for by the public. Eileen Atkins who was last nominated 39 years ago pipped her screen sister Judi Dench to the post for her performance in Cranford, in the prestigious Actress category. Andrew Garfield took the Actor award for his touching portrayal of a juvenile child-killer haunted by the actions of his past in Boy A. Among the thirteen first-time winners were hospital saga Holby City which won the hard-fought Continuing Drama battle; Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares in the Features category and Channel 4’s Fonejacker for the Comedy Programme award. It was also a first for Heroes which was victorious in the International category. Peter Kosminsky’s powerful drama about Muslims in post 7/7 Britain gave Britz the coveted prize for Drama Serial beating Cranford, Five Days and Murphy’s Law and after two previous nominations, Peep Show picked up the award for Situation Comedy. The Mark of Cain which depicted the harsh realities of war was victorious in the Single Drama category, while Jimmy McGovern’s poignant, passionate and compelling drama The Street won for Drama Series for the second year running. The Tower: A Tale of Two Cities received the BAFTA for Factual Series while Andrew Marr triumphed in Specialist Factual[ii] for his eponymous History of Modern Britain. Lie of the Land received the Single Documentary[iii] award while Current Affairs went to China’s Stolen Children: A Dispatches Special. Sky News was victorious in the News Coverage category for the Glasgow Airport Attack and the Canadian Grand Prix Live brought a consecutive win to ITV1’s Formula One in the Sport category. Spooks Interactive won the Interactivity BAFTA. This year’s Special Award[iv] was presented by John Hurt and went to BAFTA-winning film-maker Paul Watson. Often described as the founding father of fly-on-the-wall television with his ground-breaking The Family series, his other credits include Sylvania Waters, Rain In My Heart and the two heart-rending documentaries about Malcolm & Barbara (A Love Story and Love’s Farewell) which charted the painful journey of Malcolm Pointon’s descent into, and death, from Alzheimers. The final honours of the evening went to Bruce Forsyth who received the highest accolade the Academy can bestow, the Fellowship. The ultimate showman was presented the award by huge fan Paul Merton and the Palladium was a fitting scene as he was thrust into its spotlight from virtual obscurity when he hosted Val Parnell’s Sunday Night at the London Palladium back in 1958. Since then Bruce’s prodigious credits include Beat the Clock, The Bruce Forsyth Show, The Generation Game, Play Your Cards Right, and latterly the huge Saturday night ratings-winner Strictly Come Dancing. This year the BAFTA website is providing online videos of red carpet highlights and backstage interviews with all the winners. Clips of all the nominated programmes and all the latest images from the night’s events will also be free to view online. All the exclusive online content will be available on the night of the Awards at www.bafta.org/awards/television.               |
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