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Mr Bates vs the Post Office took centre stage at the Bafta television awards on Sunday, being praised for showcasing the power of television to “change hearts and minds” and forcing positive change.
The show won best limited drama, ITV was given a special award for commissioning the show, and BBC One won the current affairs gong for a Post Office special on BBC Breakfast.
“This story only had the impact it did because the people that watched it stood up and demanded action with rage,” said the drama’s producer Patrick Spence in his acceptance speech. “May it be a warning to those who are supposed to have our backs. We cannot abide liars and bullies.”
He thanked audiences for their engagement in the series. “Our show didn’t change the law, the people of this nation did that,” he said.
Mr Bates vs the Post Office won in a category thought to be tightly contested, up against Baby Reindeer. The ITV drama spotlighted one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history, influenced policy change in government and reopened the case to seek justice for post office operators wrongly accused of theft and fraud.
“It spoke to a nation, it gave a voice to the wronged, and it brought dynamic change,” said the actor and politician Floella Benjamin before she presented ITV with the special award.
ITV’s director of television, Kevin Lygo, used his speech in collecting the award to push public service broadcasters. “At a time when funding is tricky but not impossible, ITV and the BBC must continue to make these stories which hold power to account,” he said. “We will continue to make them. As long as we are here, we will continue to do it.”
He signed off by demanding payouts for wronged post office operators who have not yet been received funds from a compensation scheme. “Will you hurry up and pay these people what they are due,” he said in a message to the government.
The Bafta chair, Sara Putt, commended the show in the opening speech of the night. “This is public service television at its best and shows the power of TV to change hearts and minds,” she told the ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall in London.
Putt also call for more gender equality and recognition of disabled people in television. “The talent is there; we need to create access to the pipelines that recognise, support, and highlight that talent,” she said.
It was a good night for the public service broadcasters and a bad one for Netflix. The BBC won most of the biggest scripted television awards, picking up six for Mr Loverman, Industry, Blue Lights, Alma’s Not Normal and Gavin and Stacey. Channel 4 snapped up the reality gong in a surprise win for The Jury: Murder Trial, pipping The Traitors which had been expected to win.
In Netflix’s corner was Baby Reindeer, which had been expected to win big but left with only one award: Jessica Gunning for supporting actress.
The leading actress Bafta went to the rising star Marisa Abela for her portrayal of Yasmin in the drama Industry. She was holding back tears of joy reading her speech. “I booked Industry when I was in my final year of drama school and my agent who signed me in my first final year show is here tonight – Saskia, thank you so much for believing in me,” she said.
One of the biggest surprises of the night came as the Northern Irish police drama Blue Lights picked up the drama series Bafta. “Thank you to the people of our home city for letting us tell your stories,” said the writer Declan Lawn. “Belfast, this one’s for you.”
Lennie James won the leading actor award for his portrayal of Barrington Walker in Mr Loverman, the story of a closeted Antiguan Londoner whose marriage collapses after it emerges he has been having a decades-long affair with his male best friend. James’s voice quaked when he thanked Bernardine Evaristo, who wrote the novel on which the show is based, for “trusting us with your characters. What a night!”
Ariyon Bakare won supporting actor for his turn as Morris De La Roux, the secret gay partner of Walker in Mr Loverman. Fighting back tears, Bakare said: “This award stands on the shoulders of those before me, those who have been afraid to come out, to be who they want to be. I hope you feel just as confident as we did when we made the show.”
After a sweltering sun had lit up London’s South Bank during the day, stars took over on the night. British television’s biggest names swaggered down the red carpet and into the Royal Festival Hall. Some stopped for interviews and all stopped for photographs, the atmosphere buzzing as stars paraded down the carpet in flamboyant dress.
The opening award of the night was Gunning’s for supporting actress, for playing the stalker Martha in Baby Reindeer. She teared up thanking her team and the show’s creator Richard Gadd, telling the audience the show had changed her life. “This time last year, Richard and I were stood backstage waiting to go out to present an award,” she said. “Little did we know what the year had in store for us.”
The journalist Kirsty Wark accepted a Bafta lifetime achievement award for her outstanding contribution to news and current affairs broadcasting. She looked back on her career in her speech. “I’ve been lucky to interview everyone from politicians to painters, architects to economists. It takes a village to raise a programme,” she said.
Danny Dyer scooped up the male performance in a comedy award for his role as Lee in Mr Bigstuff. “The acting was so bad, it was funny,” he joked in his speech. Dropping out expletives and cupping his mouth as they fell, he finished by speaking directly to his daughters in the audience: “I done it, girls, I fuckin’ done it.”
Ruth Jones won female performance in a comedy for her portrayal of Ness in Gavin and Stacey. She arrived on stage in character and joked to the ceremony: “I’m not gonna lie, this is immense. I wasn’t expecting this no way. I won a Bafta before, of course I did, in 1976, the Barry arcade fruity technician award – it was crackin’.”
She became Ruth Jones again after a chorus of laughter from the crowd. “The person I would like to thank the most is my dear, dear, talented, lovely, funny friend James Corden, with whom I have shared this astonishing journey for the past 17 years, and without whom Vanessa Shanessa Jenkins would not exist.”
Ukraine: Enemy in the Woods won in the single documentary category. “People are still fighting out there and we’re just really proud that we were able to tell these stories,” said Jamie Roberts, the programme’s director. “I hope we can continue to make documentaries like this. It’s what we live for.”
