Bafta TV awards, review: Chernobyl stars as surprise winners rescue flat ceremony
With mandatory face-coverings all the rage, BAFTA’s familiar golden masks have never looked so topical. Yet this was certainly the strangest televised awards bash in memory. There was no red carpet, no star-studded audience, no gracious loser faces. At least we had some surprise winners, otherwise the entire enterprise could have fallen completely flat.
The British Academy Television Awards 2020 (BBC One) were a socially distanced ceremony held behind closed doors, with winners accepting their awards virtually. As host Richard Ayoade put it, this was “an over-produced Zoom call”.
All the nominees in some categories had pre-recorded an acceptance speech without knowing whether it would ever be seen. This must have been deeply odd for those who were pipped to the post. Others received British TV’s top prizes live via video link.
Either way, this lack of spontaneity ought to have resulted in more imaginative, considered speeches but the majority still comprised long lists of thank yous and the usual gushing luvvieness. Heartfelt? Yes. Friday night entertainment? Not so much.
Thank goodness, then, for Ayoade’s drily deadpan links, his former IT Crowd co-star Chris O’Dowd’s whimsical silliness, musician Tim Minchin’s waspish songs, a splenetic rant from award-winner Greg Davies, plus some sparky interplay between David Tennant and Michael Sheen. Without these humorous highlights to lift the underwhelming mood, it would have felt like an even longer 90 minutes.
The most cheering result saw Dame Glenda Jackson collect her first TV BAFTA at the tender age of 84. She was nominated almost half a century ago for Elizabeth R, so it was glorious to see her finally go one further. Besides, Jackson's towering performance as a woman with dementia in one-off drama Elizabeth is Missing was subtle, affecting and deserves every accolade going.
There were several eyebrow-raising snubs. Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s comedy Fleabag, taking its farewell bow, led the way with four nominations but only converted one of those into a victory - and even that saw anti-heroine Fleabag beaten by her sister. The overwhelmed and endearingly apologetic Sian Clifford snatched Female Performance in a Comedy Programme from under her close friend’s nose. With Andrew Scott’s “Hot Priest” a shock absentee from the male list, this simply wasn’t Waller-Bridge’s night for once.
Instead the evening’s multiple victors were Sky Atlantic’s devastating and meticulous Chernobyl, rightly scooping Miniseries and Leading Actor for Jared Harris; and Channel 4’s deliriously daft estate agent sitcom Stath Lets Flats, which landed both Scripted Comedy and Male Performance in a Comedy Programme for its gifted creator-cum-star Jamie Demetriou. Both were popular and deserved winners.
There were two major awards for Channel 4’s good-but-not-great The End Of The F***ing World, which proved awkward in two ways. Naomi Ackie’s Best Supporting Actress award was justifiable but how it beat three superior shows (The Crown, Gentleman Jack and especially Giri/Haji) to Drama Series was utterly baffling. There was also the unfortunate fact that its sweary title couldn’t be said properly pre-watershed.
Anglo-Japanese thriller Giri/Haji deserved to fare far better than it did. At least it didn’t go home empty-handed, with exciting talent Will Sharpe crowned Best Supporting Actor. Shane Meadows’ traumatic abuse drama The Virtues can consider itself most unlucky to miss out in three categories.
Emerging star Mo Gilligan was “gassed” to beat more established stars to Entertainment Performance. There were also pleasing wins for enthralling BBC Two contest Race Across The World, cult gameshow Taskmaster, searing true-crime series The Yorkshire Ripper Files and Romesh Ranganathan’s underrated travelogues.
The ratings hit of last Christmas, Gavin & Stacey’s return, scooped Must-See Moment for Nessa’s sweet proposal to Smithy. The BBC must be begging Ruth Jones and James Corden for a festive sequel where we find out his answer. What is, if you will, occurring?
As well as glimpsing celebrities at home (note for next time, VIPs: bookshelves make a far more interesting background than plain walls or curtains), we were treated to a few juicy showbiz titbits. When Strictly Come Dancing won Entertainment Programme, we saw that judge Bruno Tonioli had gone grey during lockdown. His silver fox look suited him.
Later on, Jared Harris gave us the thrillingly indiscreet gossip that Daniel Day-Lewis had been first choice for the role of nuclear scientist Valery Legasov. Luckily for Harris, he’d retired from acting so producers resorted to Plan B.
The winner’s list was notable for being more inclusive than usual. The killing of George Floyd and subsequent Black Lives Matter protests came after the eligibility period but juries would have been conscious of complaints over a lack of diversity at January’s BAFTA film awards.
Not only did Gilligan, Ackie and “Central Park Five” dramatisation When They See Us triumph but the Special Award went to Idris Elba - even though his best work currently seems to be behind him. His rambling speech was a tad ungracious, too.
These awards would normally be held in spring. By late July, all the programmes seemed an absurdly long time ago. There was no Normal People (although its stars popped up to present a prize), no Quiz nor I May Destroy You, no Tiger King nor Talking Heads. However, 2019 was still an exceptional year for home-grown TV which deserved honouring, no matter how delayed the event or how the strange circumstances.
The traditional tribute to TV figures who have passed away was even more extensive and poignant than normal. It spanned 15 months rather than 12 and included some we lost to Covid-19. The rollcall of beloved names - including Nicholas Parsons, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Roy Hudd, Honor Blackman, Clive James, Caroline Flack, Peter Sissons, David Bellamy, Eddie Large, Derek Fowlds and, of course, Dame Vera Lynn - made for a sobering interlude.
This show might have lacked the requisite sense of occasion and frisson of glamour. It was full of stilted banter, mediocre speeches and perplexing winners. As Ayoade said, though, TV has kept us connected, informed and entertained over the past five months.
Let’s forgive this show’s unavoidable faults, then, and welcome it as a celebration of a medium which has served us well when we needed it most. And the winner is... us viewers.
