While most of the industry attention may be engrossed with the way Netflix’s subscription base has grown over the last few years, the big question at BAFTA 2018 was how many awards would the big-spending streamer romp home with this year?After all, Netflix’s much-lauded £100 million drama, The Crown, was nominated for five major categories, including Best Drama, and for three of its actors.
Instead, what came as a surprise to all was how BBC’s Peeky Blinders swept away the Best Drama award at the British Academy Television Awards, while Netflix’s The Crown lost on the big prize for the second consecutive year.
Peaky Blinders beat Channel 4’s profane comic book adaptation, End of the Fucking World and BBC’s Line of Duty, which along with The Crown were tipped to take the award.
Even actor Claire Foy from The Crown missed out the Lead Actress award to Molly Windsor, who won for Three Girls (BBC). Furthermore, Sean Bean won lead actor for his character in BBC’s Broken, beating Jack Rowan (Born To Kill), Joe Cole (Black Mirror) and Tim Pigott-Smith for King Charles III.
In fact, Netflix’s only win came from Vanessa Kirby for the Best Supporting Actress category for her portrayal of Princess Margaret in The Crown, following up her nomination last year with a win.
Beyond the winners, it was interesting to watch the host of the evening, Sue Perkins, comedian and presenter poking fun at The Crown’s gender play dispute. As she announced, “I don’t want to ignore the elephant in the room but on such an occasion I think it would be crass to discuss my fee.”
She further added, “But let me say, I’ll just be putting in half the effort.” She also turned a joke about Love Island into one about the Windrush Generation. “If you haven’t seen (Love Island), it’s about a group of people who are sent home from an island they love, that couldn’t happen in real life.”
There was also room for a joke about Harvey Weinstein and his alleged sexual assaults. As Sue Perkins said, “The fantastic Jodie Whittaker became the first female Doctor Who. For me Jodie was the perfect choice because if this year has taught us one thing it’s that if anyone can fight off monsters it’s actors.”
Also, several winners dedicated their prizes to real-life people they portrayed on screen. Including, Brian F O’Byrne who dedicated his win in the Best Supporting Actor category, for Little Boy Blue, to the parents of Rhys Jones, the Liverpool school boy who was murdered in 2007.
The cast of Three Girls praised the social workers and police officers who risked their jobs, while accepting their award for the drama, which told the real story of abused and sexually exploited school girls from Rochdale. Murdered For Being Different won in the Single Drama category and told the story of Sophie Lancaster, who passed away in 2007 after being attacked by a gang.
On the comedy front, This Country braced up its nominations with a win for Best Comedy and its star, Daisy May Cooper was awarded for Best Female Performance in a Comedy programme.
Popular winner in the Male Performance in a comedy programme category was awarded to Toby Jones, for his role in Mackenzie Crooks’ The Detectorists marking his first ever Bafta win.
Although, Blue Planet II lost out in the specialist factual category with the documentary about the American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat taking the award ahead of Elizabeth I’s Secret Agents, Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain and Blue Planet II in a section completely dominated by the BBC.
A special award was dedicated to John Motson for his Contribution to Television on the same day he retired from football commentating. Rio Ferdinand, Former Manchester United and England footballer won an award for his documentary about the death of his wife and coping as a single father.
It was observed by many that the evening was not a successful night for diverse nominees as all the winners in the acting categories were whites and none of the shows with majority black or minority ethnic casts were successful.
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