BAFTA TV Awards 2020 – Winners and Reaction

The full list of winners is in and the detailed list is below.

After last years show got it so right with big wins for Killing Eve and Patrick Melrose, this years (delayed) BAFTA TV awards may go down as one of the most random and unjust awards shows in recent history. Obviously, everyone has their own personal likes and most of this reaction is specifically from mine, but I have also seen strong industry and public backlash to these awards.

I will write a quick reaction under each category but I need to make clear up here that ‘Fleabag’ losing to ‘Stath Lets Flats’ and therefore finishing without ever winning a best comedy BAFTA, and also the Sky Cricket coverage losing to the ITV Rugby coverage, are both absolutely inexcusable results that make no sense to be and leave a really poor taste in the mouth.

Best Drama Series 

THE END OF THE F***ING WORLD Production Team – Clerkenwell Films, Dominic Buchanan Productions/Channel 4/Netflix

Reaction – While the season didn’t leave up to season 1’s quality, it was still very fun and I don’t mind it winning, but I do feel that ‘Gentleman Jack’ or ‘The Crown’ would have been more deserving of the prize.

Best Single Drama 

THE LEFT BEHIND Alan Harris, Joseph Bullman, Aysha Rafaele, Tracie Simpson – BBC Studios/BBC Three

Reaction – I’m glad the Dominic Cummings propaganda of ‘Brexit: The Uncivil War’ didn’t win here, but it is tough to see ‘Elizabeth Is Missing’ lose out in this category.

Best Mini-Series 

CHERNOBYL Production Team – Sister Pictures, The Mighty Mint, Word Games, HBO/Sky Atlantic

Reaction – Despite the emotional devastation on show in ‘The Virtues’, ‘Chernobyl’ is a masterpiece and very much the inevitable and deserving winner in this category.

Best Soap or Continuing Drama

EMMERDALE Production Team – ITV Studios/ITV

Reaction – With two of the four shows nominated being hospital set dramas, and these awards taking place during an unprecedented global pandemic, I am surprised one of those shows wasn’t rewarded but Emmerdale is a solid winner.

Best Lead Actor

JARED HARRIS Chernobyl – Sister Pictures, The Mighty Mint, Word Games, HBO/Sky Atlantic

Reaction – This was very much a two horse race, and while I cannot fault Jared Harris’ win here after the great performance he gave in ‘Chernobyl’, Stephen Graham is long overdue a BAFTA and you would be hard pressed to find a more heart breaking and human performance that what Graham delivered in ‘The Virtues, and it is a shame he wasn’t rewarded for it.

Best Lead Actress

GLENDA JACKSON Elizabeth is Missing – STV Productions/BBC One

Reaction – All the women in this category would have been deserving of the awards but the legendary Jackson’s return to TV after decades away was always going to be a big deal, but her performance as an aging woman battling dementia was remarkable and absolutely deserved the win.

Best Supporting Actor

WILL SHARPE Giri/Haji – Sister Pictures/BBC Two

Reaction – Stellan Skarsgard or Josh O’Connor, specifically O’Connor, can feel very hard done by here, but congratulations to Sharpe on his win.

Best Supporting Actress

NAOMI ACKIE The End of the F***ing World – Clerkenwell Films, Dominic Buchanan Productions/Channel 4

Reaction – I think Naomi Ackie is a talented actress and it wasn’t a particularly strong category, but I didn’t like her specific performance in this show that much, but I am not surprised she got the win.

Best Male Comedy Performance

JAMIE DEMETRIOU Stath Lets Flats – Roughcut TV/Channel 4

Reaction – Ncuti Gatwa was absolutely robbed.

Best Female Comedy Performance

SIAN CLIFFORD Fleabag – Two Brothers Pictures/BBC Three

Reaction – Sian Clifford’s performance in ‘Fleabag’, especially season two, is pure comedic perfection and I am so delighted she was rewarded for that here.

Best Scripted Comedy

STATH LETS FLATS Jamie Demetriou, Tom Kingsley, Seb Barwell, Ash Atalla – Roughcut TV/Channel 4

Reaction – This is the biggest robbery in the show. ‘Fleabag’ ending without a best comedy win will go down as one of the biggest shocks ever, and even if they didn’t want to give it to give it to ‘Fleabag’ then the equally superb ‘Derry Girls’ is right there.

Best Comedy Entertainment Programme

TASKMASTER Alex Horne, Andy Devonshire, Andy Cartwright, James Taylor – Avalon Television/Dave

Reaction – No issues with this win but personally would have given it to the always great ‘The Graham Norton Show’.

Best Entertainment Performance

MO GILLIGAN The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan – Expectation, Momo G/Channel 4

Reaction – A win for Frankie Boyle would’ve been not only totally deserved but sent shockwaves through the awards body itself.

Best Entertainment Programme

STRICTLY COME DANCING Production Team – BBC Studios/BBC One

Reaction – The inevitable winner.

Best Factual Series

LEAVING NEVERLAND Dan Reed – Amos Pictures/Channel 4

Reaction – The inevitable winner but hugely controversial nevertheless.

Best Specialist Factual 

YORKSHIRE RIPPER FILES: A VERY BRITISH CRIME STORY Liz Williams, Jasmine McNabb, Nancy Bornat, Leanne Klein – Wall to Wall Media/BBC Four

Reaction – ‘Seven Worlds, One Planet’ was a stunning achievement and just because these high quality Attenborough narrated documentaries are becoming so frequent, shouldn’t mean we take them for granted.

Best Single Documentary 

THE LAST SURVIVORS Production Team – Minnow Films/BBC Two

Reaction – N/A

Best Feature 

THE MISADVENTURES OF ROMESH RANGANATHAN Emily Hudd, Morgan Roberts, Christopher Cottam – Rumpus Media/BBC Two

Reaction – Romesh seems to be everywhere right now and fair play to him for earning a win here.

Best Reality and Constructed Factual 

RACE ACROSS THE WORLD Production Team – Studio Lambert/BBC Two

Reaction – Not a particularly strong category but a deserving winner.

Best Live Event 

BLUE PLANET LIVE Production Team – BBC Studios Natural History Unit, Open University, BBC Learning/BBC One

Reaction – The obvious and deserved winner.

Best News Coverage 

HONG KONG PROTESTS Production Team – Sky News/Sky News

Reaction – The BBC coverage of the Prince Andrew scandal was spectacular TV and remarkable that Emily Maitlis’ triumph wasn’t rewarded.

Best Current Affairs 

UNDERCOVER: INSIDE CHINA’S DIGITAL GULAG (EXPOSURE) Robin Barnwell, David Henshaw, Guy Creasey, Gesbeen Mohammad – Hardcash Productions/ITV

Reaction – Any winner in this strong category would have been well deserved.

Best Sport 

2019 RUGBY WORLD CUP FINAL: ENGLAND V SOUTH AFRICA Phil Heslop, David Francis, Mark Demuth, Paul McNamara – ITV Sport/ITV

Reaction – This is one of the most undeserved wins in BAFTA history, as the iconic Sky coverage of one of the most remarkable sporting moments in history (England’s win in the Cricket World Cup final Super Over) is somehow defeated by the entirely underwhelming Rugby coverage, and feels like it was voted on by people who never watched either event.

Best Short Form Programme

BRAIN IN GEAR Gbemisola Ikumelo, Fergal Costello, Inez Gordon – BBC Studios/BBC iPlayer

Reaction – No issues with this winner.

Best International Programme

WHEN THEY SEE US Production Team – Participant Media, Tribeca Productions, Harpo Films, Array Filmworks/Netflix

Reaction – A really strong and important winner from a packed category.

Must-See Moment

GAVIN AND STACEY Nessa Proposes to Smithy – Baby Cow Productions/BBC One

Reaction – The moment that had most of the nation shocked on Christmas Day and is the only winner that there could have been here.