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.
Metropolitan Police is to stop investigating “non-crime hate incidents” to “reduce ambiguity” after prosecutors dropped a case against Graham Linehan.
Linehan, 57, will face no further action after being arrested over his social media posts about transgender people.
The Father Ted and IT Crowd creator said his lawyers had been told the case wouldn’t proceed. The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed the move.
Linehan, 57, was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence when he landed at Heathrow from his home in the US on 1 September.
The incident drew criticism of the police and government from some politicians and free-speech campaigners.
Met Police said today it would stop investigating “non-crime hate incidents” to “reduce ambiguity” and “provide clearer direction for officers”.
Posting on X, Linehan announced : “After a successful hearing to get my bail conditions lifted (one which the police officer in charge of the case didn’t even bother to attend) the Crown Prosecution Service has dropped the case.
“With the aid of the Free Speech Union, I still aim to hold the police accountable for what is only the latest attempt to silence and suppress gender critical voices on behalf of dangerous and disturbed men.”
The union said it had hired a “top flight team of lawyers to sue the Met for wrongful arrest, among other things”.
“The police need to be taught a lesson that they cannot allow themselves to be continually manipulated by woke activists,” it added.
A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson confirmed it had reviewed the case file and decided “no further action” would be taken.
Linehan said he had to be taken to hospital on the day of his arrest. Pic: PA
In one of his posts, Linehan wrote: “If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.”
Another was a photo of a trans-rights protest, with the comment “a photo you can smell”, and a follow-up post saying: “I hate them. Misogynists and homophobes. F*** em”.
A Met Police statement after the case was dropped acknowledged “concern” around Linehan’s arrest.
It added: “The commissioner has been clear he doesn’t believe officers should be policing toxic culture war debates, with current laws and rules on inciting violence online leaving them in an impossible position.
“As a result, the Met will no longer investigate non-crime hate incidents.
“We believe this will provide clearer direction for officers, reduce ambiguity and enable them to focus on matters that meet the threshold for criminal investigations.”
Linehan said on his blog that he was arrested by five armed officers and had to go to A&E after his blood pressure reached “stroke territory” during his interrogation.
Police said the officers’ guns were never drawn and were only present as Linehan was detained by the aviation unit, which routinely carries firearms.
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JK Rowling, who’s regularly shared her views on women’s rights in relation to transgender rights, was among those who had criticised the arrest, calling it “utterly deplorable”.
Reform’s Nigel Farage, shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick, and ex-foreign secretary Sir James Cleverly also hit out at the treatment of Linehan.
UK
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The son of former England footballer Stuart Pearce has died in a crash, his family has said.
Harley Pearce, from Marlborough in Wiltshire, was driving a tractor near Witcombe, Gloucestershire, on Thursday, when he was involved in a collision, police said.
The 21-year-old farming worker died at the scene, on the A417 Old Birdlip Hill in Witcombe, around five miles from Gloucester.
No other vehicles were involved, Gloucestershire Constabulary said. Emergency services were called to the scene of the incident at about 2.30pm on October 16.
Stuart Pearce at last year’s FA Cup Final at Wembley. Pic: PA
Harley Pearce was 21 and worked in farming, according to reports.
‘Our shining star’
In a tribute posted on Facebook, Harley sister, Chelsea Pearce, said the family was “truly shocked and utterly heartbroken at the loss of our cherished son and devoted brother, Harley”.
He was, the family said, was a soul “who left an unforgettable imprint on all who knew him”.
“He was a golden boy with an infectious smile, and this shocking tragedy will leave a huge hole in the hearts of those who were fortunate enough to have known him.”
He had “a quiet, understated strength and deep kindness”.
The family said they were “so proud of the young man he had become, exhibiting a wonderful work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit in the farming industry.
“He will always be our shining star. Rest in Peace, our beautiful son and brother. You will never, ever be forgotten.”
What have police said?
Harley ran his own company, Harley Pearce Agricultural Service, talkSPORT said.
Gloucestershire Constabulary said on Thursday: “The driver of the tractor, a man in his 20s and from Wiltshire, was pronounced dead at the scene.
“His next of kin are aware and being supported by specially trained officers.”
The force is appealing for any witnesses or anyone with dashcam footage to contact them.
‘Tragic news’
Harley’s father, Stuart Pearce, played 78 times for England and was part of the Three Lions squads which reached the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup and Euro 96, the FA said on its website.
He was later the head coach of the England Under-21s.
During a long club career, he made more than 400 appearances for Nottingham Forest, many of them as captain, during a 12-year spell at the City Ground.
He later managed the club, as well as another former club, Manchester City.
Pearce currently works as a pundit on talkSPORT, which said on its website that Harley and Chelsea were the two children he had with his ex-wife Liz.
Presenter Jim White said during a broadcast on Monday that “everybody here on this show and at talkSPORT sends our heartfelt condolences to the family of Stuart Pearce after that tragic news we’ve just heard”.
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Several of the clubs he played for posted tributes on X, including Forest, who said they were “deeply saddened”.
The club said: “The thoughts of everyone connected with Nottingham Forest are with Stuart and his family at this truly difficult time.”
West Ham United said: “We are saddened to hear of Harley Pearce’s passing.
“Everyone at the Club sends their deepest condolences to Stuart and his family at this tragic time.”
Manchester City said: “Everyone at Manchester City sends their love and thoughts to Stuart and his family at this very difficult time.”
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