BAFTA TV Awards 2024: Top Boy, Happy Valley and The Sixth Commandment among the big winners – as The Crown misses out
Top Boy, Happy Valley and The Sixth Commandment were the big winners at this year’s BAFTA TV Awards, taking home two prizes apiece.
The final season of the critically acclaimed Netflix series Top Boy was named best drama, with star Jasmine Jobson also named best supporting actress for her portrayal of Jaq Lawrence.
Happy Valley picked up the award for most memorable moment, the only prize voted for by the public, while star Sarah Lancashire was named best actress once again for her portrayal of no-nonsense police sergeant Catherine Cawood – after first winning the prize for the role in 2017.
The Sixth Commandment picked up the awards for best limited drama and best actor for its star, Timothy Spall.
Despite leading the nominations race with eight nods in total, royal drama The Crown left empty-handed.
‘You changed my life’
Crime drama Top Boy follows the lives of Sully (Kane “Kano” Robinson) and Dushane (Ashley Walters) and deals with themes of crime, drugs and violence on the Summerhouse estate in Hackney, east London.
Picking up the best drama award ahead of Happy Valley, Slow Horses and The Gold, producer Charles Steel paid tribute to stars Walters and Robinson.
Top Boy’s Jasmine Jobson with her BAFTA. Pic: PA
Jobson also took the chance to tell the BAFTAs audience: “I just want to say I am the woman who has been standing in a group full of men, you have shown me what it is to be strong and independent and how important it is to stand out in a crowd full of people where it’s easy to be invisible.
“Netflix, Top Boy, you changed my life.”
Read more on the TV BAFTAs:
The full list of winners
All the best red carpet looks
The awards as they happened
Yorkshire-based crime drama Happy Valley was another show that came to an end in 2023, bringing to a close the story of Sgt Cawood and Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton), the criminal who destroyed her family.
Accepting the award for best actress, Lancashire said it was an honour to win and praised Sally Wainwright, the writer and creator of the show.
“I would like to acknowledge my fellow nominees and their tremendous work,” she said. “Sally Wainwright, I shall forever be grateful to you for this opportunity.
“I feel very, very privileged to have been surrounded by these brilliant actors and I thank each and every one of you.”
The series also won the memorable moment award for her character’s explosive final kitchen showdown with Royce, beating fellow shortlisted moments including David Beckham teasing wife Victoria about her “working class” roots in the Beckham documentary, and Logan Roy’s death in Succession.
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BAFTA winner Spall: Acting is ‘stupid thing’
Baroness Floella Benjamin was presented with the BAFTA Fellowship award. Pic: PA
‘Look it up on IMDB’
Picking up the leading actor award for The Sixth Commandment, a true crime drama exploring the murders of Peter Farquhar and Ann Moore-Martin in Buckinghamshire in 2014 and 2017, as well as the subsequent investigation and trial, veteran British star Timothy Spall joked: “Look it all up on IMDB [movie database] and you will see who was involved because to each and every soul of them, they are brilliant.”
He continued: “Acting is a stupid thing, it’s a soppy old thing, standing up pretending to be someone and p*ssing around in costume. Sixty-seven and you think ‘am I still doing this?’
“But sometimes you get the chance to play people that have had a terrible thing happen to them and all they wanted was love, and it’s a beautiful thing to be able to tell a story about that. It’s about crimes but it’s also about love.”
Looking at his award, he added: “I’ve always wanted one of these. I’m just so pleased to be amongst you lot.”
Hosts Romesh Ranganathan and Rob Beckett also secured a win, for Sky show Rob & Romesh Vs.. Pic: PA
Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman celebrate for Strictly Come Dancing. Pic: PA
Elsewhere, Matthew Macfadyen won in the supporting actor category for his performance in the final series of Succession, the conclusion of the drama about the struggle for power in a media dynasty, while Strictly Come Dancing won the best entertainment prize in its 20th year on the air.
Tess Daly, who co-hosts with Claudia Winkleman, described the win as “the best birthday present”.
Squid Game: The Challenge was named best reality TV series, while last year’s Eurovision Song Contest won the award for live event coverage.
And there was a surprise in the international category, when French series Class Act beat huge shows including The Bear and Succession.
Juice star Mawaan Rizwan and Black Ops star Gbemisola Ikumelo (pictured below) were the winners in the comedy performance categories. Pic: PA
Comedy prizes include the hosts
In the comedy categories, Mawaan Rizwan won the award for best male performance for his role in Juice, about a young gay man who desperately wants to be the centre of attention as his family continuously steals his thunder, while Gbemisola Ikumelo won the female performance award for Black Ops.
Accepting his award, Rizwan said: “Thank you to my therapist – we had a conversation last week where we said I had to stop relying on external forms of validation.”
There was even an award for the ceremony hosts, comedians Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan, who took home the comedy entertainment prize for Sky show Rob And Romesh Vs.
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Former Play School children’s presenter Baroness Floella Benjamin was presented with BAFTA’s highest honour, the Fellowship, by newsreader Clive Myrie, while daytime TV queen Lorraine Kelly was also honoured with a special prize, presented by Succession’s Brian Cox.
“Don’t pull up the ladder” to those from working-class backgrounds, Kelly told the crowd as she accepted her prize.
The ceremony also paid tribute to the stars of TV we have said goodbye to in the past year, including talk show host Sir Michael Parkinson, Lord Of The Rings actor Bernard Hill, newsreader George Alagiah, Hairy Biker Dave Myers, film and TV director Roy Battersby and Friends star Matthew Perry.
A teenage girl who was killed after getting out of a police car on the M5 in Somerset has been named.
Tamzin Hall, 17 and from Wellington, was hit by a vehicle that was travelling southbound between junction 24 for Bridgwater and junction 25 for Taunton shortly after 11pm on Monday.
She had exited a police vehicle that had stopped on the northbound side of the motorway while transporting her.
A mandatory referral was made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which is now carrying out its own investigation into what happened.
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Avon and Somerset Police said: “Our thoughts and sympathies go out to Tamzin’s family for their devastating loss.
“A specially-trained family liaison officer remains in contact with them to keep them updated and to provide support.
“The family have asked for privacy at this difficult time.”
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The police watchdog, the IOPC, has been asked to investigate.
In a statement, director David Ford, said: “This was a truly tragic incident and my thoughts are with Tamzin’s family and friends and everyone affected by the events of that evening.
“We are contacting her family to express our sympathies, explain our role, and set out how our investigation will progress. We will keep them fully updated as our investigation continues.”
Paramedics attended the motorway within minutes of the girl being hit but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
The motorway was closed in both directions while investigations took place. It was fully reopened shortly after 11am on Tuesday, Nationals Highways said.
A survivors group advocating for women allegedly assaulted by Mohamed al Fayed has said it is “grateful another abuser has been unmasked”, after allegations his brother Salah also participated in the abuse.
Justice for Harrods Survivors says it has “credible evidence” suggesting the sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated at Harrods and the billionaire’s properties “was not limited to Mr al Fayed himself”.
The group’s statement comes after three women told BBC News they were sexually assaulted by al Fayed’s brother, Salah.
One woman said she was raped by Mohamed al Fayed while working at Harrods.
Helen, who has waived her right to anonymity, said she then took a job working for his brother as an escape. She alleges she was drugged and sexually assaulted while working at Salah’s home on Park Lane, London.
Two other women have told the BBC they were taken to Monaco and the South of France, where Salah sexually abused them.
Mohamed al Fayed. Pic: AP
The Justice for Harrod Survivors representatives said: “We are proud to support the survivors of Salah Fayed’s abuse and are committed to achieving justice for them, no matter what it takes.”
The group added it “looks forward to the others on whom we have credible evidence – whether abusers themselves or enablers facilitating that abuse – being exposed in due course”.
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Ex-Fulham captain makes Al Fayed allegation
Timeline of accusations against ex-Harrods boss
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Salah was one of the three Fayed brothers who co-owned Harrods.
The business, which was sold to Qatar Holdings when Mohamed al Fayed retired in 2010, has said it “supports the bravery of these women in coming forward”.
A statement issued by the famous store on Thursday evening continued: “We encourage these survivors to come forward and make their claims to the Harrods scheme, where they can apply for compensation, as well as support from a counselling perspective and through an independent survivor advocate.
“We also hope that they are looking at every appropriate avenue to them in their pursuit of justice, whether that be Harrods, the police or the Fayed family and estate.”
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Bianca Gascoigne speaks about Al Fayed abuse
The Justice for Harrods Survivors group previously said more than 400 people had contacted them regarding accusations about Mohamed al Fayed, who died last year.
One of those alleged to have been abused is Bianca Gascoigne, the daughter of former England player Paul.
Speaking to Sky News in October, Gascoigne said she was groomed and sexually assaulted by al Fayed when she worked at Harrods as a teenager.
UK
Wes Streeting ‘crossed the line’ by opposing assisted dying in public, says Labour peer Harriet Harman
Wes Streeting “crossed the line” by opposing assisted dying in public and the argument shouldn’t “come down to resources”, a Labour peer has said.
Speaking on Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Baroness Harriet Harman criticised the health secretary for revealing how he is going to vote on the matter when it comes before parliament later this month.
MPs are being given a free vote, meaning they can side with their conscience and not party lines, so the government is supposed to be staying neutral.
But Mr Streeting has made clear he will vote against legalising assisted dying, citing concerns end-of-life care is not good enough for people to make an informed choice, and that some could feel pressured into the decision to save the NHS money.
He has also ordered a review into the potential costs of changing the law, warning it could come at the expense of other NHS services if implemented.
Baroness Harman said Mr Streeting has “crossed the line in two ways”.
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“He should not have said how he was going to vote, because that breaches neutrality and sends a signal,” she said.
“And secondly… he’s said the problem is that it will cost money to bring in an assisted dying measure, and therefore he will have to cut other services.
“But paradoxically, he also said it would be a slippery slope because people will be forced to bring about their own death in order to save the NHS money. Well, it can’t be doing both things.
“It can’t be both costing the NHS money and saving the NHS money.”
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Review into assisted dying costs
Baroness Harman said the argument “should not come down to resources” as it is a “huge moral issue” affecting “only a tiny number of people”.
She added that people should not mistake Mr Streeting for being “a kind of proxy for Keir Starmer”.
“The government is genuinely neutral and all of those backbenchers, they can vote whichever way they want,” she added.
Read more on this story:
‘Fix care before assisted dying legislation’
Why assisted dying is controversial – and where it’s already legal
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously expressed support for assisted dying, but it is not clear how he intends to vote on the issue or if he will make his decision public ahead of time.
The cabinet has varying views on the topic, with the likes of Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood siding with Mr Streeting in her opposition but Energy Secretary Ed Miliband being for it.
Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband is said to support the bill. Pic: Reuters
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has concerns. Pic: Reuters
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The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is being championed by Labour backbencher Kim Leadbeater, who wants to give people with six months left to live the choice to end their lives.
Under her proposals, two independent doctors must confirm a patient is eligible for assisted dying and a High Court judge must give their approval.
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Labour MP Kim Leadbeater discusses End of Life Bill
The bill will also include punishments of up to 14 years in prison for those who break the law, including coercing someone into ending their own life.
MPs will debate and vote on the legislation on 29 November, in what will be the first Commons vote on assisted dying since 2015, when the proposal was defeated.
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