The TV Baftas were a very different affair this year, as a socially-distanced version of the annual event was held on Friday night.
The 2020 ceremony was postponed from its usual May date earlier this year, owing to the coronavirus pandemic, with it later announced it would be held behind closed doors.
Friday night’s event saw new host Richard Ayoade presenting in an audience-less studio with a handful of guest presenters, with all nominees and winners appearing via video link from home.
It meant that some nominees had pre-record acceptance speeches over Zoom in the event they were announced as a winner, while others appeared live.
To say the ceremony was surreal would be somewhat of an understatement, but there were still plenty of highlights from the evening…
Chernobyl and The End Of The F***ing World were the big winners
Naomi Ackie picked up Supporting Actress for Channel 4′s The End Of The F***ing World, which was awarded Best Drama, whil Sky/HBO mini-series Chernobyl picked up two gongs, Leading Actor for Jared Harris and Best Mini-Series.
Naomi Ackie’s speech was particularly moving
The star was in shock when she was announced as the Supporting Actress winner for her role as Bonnie in The End Of The F***ing World, saying: “Oh man, are you serious?”
After saying her thank-yous, Naomi became emotional and joked: “This makes lockdown so much better!”
She later revealed she hadn’t realised she’d won as she wasn’t wearing her glasses and couldn’t see her name come up on the screen.
During the winners’ room Q&A, she explained: “Weirdly, because I’m not wearing my glasses, they’re somewhere on my bed, I couldn’t see what the name was.
“So I was waiting for the man to say. When he said it, the first thing was like ‘No! No, no!’
“Because I was amongst such amazing performances. They’re all incredible, so my first thing was to reject it.”
Jared Harris made a revelation in his acceptance speech
He revealed that he wasn’t actually HBO chief Kary Antholis’ first choice to play Valery Legasov on the show.
Jared said of their first meeting: “About 10 minutes in, he looked at me and he said ‘Jared, I hope you don’t mind me telling you this but you were not our first choice,’ and then he said ‘Would you like to know who was?’
“And I said ‘Oh I would, yes, very much.’ Daniel Day-Lewis! But he retired from acting.”
He added: “I would just like to say quickly to Daniel, don’t stay away too long. I miss seeing you up there.”
Glenda Jackson and Will Sharpe also won acting prizes
Glenda was awarded Leading Actress for her role in Elizabeth Is Missing, while Will was announced as Supporting Actor for his role in Giri/Haji.
In her speech, Glenda paid tribute to her fellow nominees, lamenting “there should be more awards tonight”.
Other winners included Strictly Come Dancing and Emmerdale
Emmerdale was named the Best Soap and Continuing Drama, while Strictly bagged Best Entertainment Programme for only the second time in its 16-year history.
There was a special prize for Gavin & Stacey
Nessa’s proposal to Smithy in the Christmas special was named as the Virgin Media Must-See Moment, which was the only category voted for by the public.
Co-writers and stars Ruth Jones and James Corden appeared via video link together to accept the award, with James calling it the “some lovely icing on an already lovely cake”.
Idris Elba collected one of Bafta’s highest accolades
The actor was given the Special Award, recognising his long-standing career, which has seen him star in shows such as Luther, The Wire and In The Long Run and work as a producer, director and musician.
In his acceptance speech, Idris said he will continue to champion other actors, writers and people to tell their stories.
“In the world of film and television nothing is different, in other words no-one is different, so me giving an opportunity to someone else is just part of my inheritance, part of my upbringing,” he said.
“I am hoping that from this point, everyone sees that you can’t make it without everyone else. That’s why I think I have got this award.
“One day I might get an acting award but until that day I am going to make more opportunities for more actors, more writers and more people to come and tell their story.”
Sian Clifford picked up a gong for her Fleabag role
She beat co-star and the show’s creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge to win the award for Female Performance In A Comedy, for her role as Fleabag’s sister Claire.
She was emotional as she picked up the award, saying: “I don’t even believe in competition and all of the women’s I’m nominated with, including the one that I wouldn’t even be here because of… Oh my God!”
Mo Gilligan sent an important message in his acceptance speech
The comedian won Entertainment Performance for his Channel 4 series The Lateish Show, and as he collected the award, he said: “On a personal note, this award means so much to me, I can’t tell you. Even the names I’m with, it blew my mind away to be here.
“It also gives hope to so many people who sound like me, look like me and are from the same background as me.”
Expanding in a later winners Q&A, he added: “Within TV, I think we all know there is so much more to do, there is so much work to do to get people like myself on TV, people that sound like me.
“Not feeling like if you’re on TV you have to change the way you speak, hopefully there is someone watching who thinks ‘I am a Mo, I’ve got a friend called Mo and I can do it’, but there is still so much work to do and I think we all collectively know it.”
Tributes were paid to those we’ve lost this year
As is commonplace during each year’s event, the ceremony was paused for a few minutes to remember those famous names from the TV industry we’ve lost over the last 12 months.
They included former Dame Vera Lynn, TV chef Gary Rhodes and Caroline Flack, with a short clip of her presenting Love Island played.
Laura Whitmore, who succeeded Caroline as the host of the ITV2 reality show, shared a picture of the tribute on her Instagram Story, while the show’s narrator Iain Stirling also posted it on the site along with a heart emoji.
There was a Normal People reunion
The stars of BBC Three’s Normal People, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal, were reunited at the event as they presented an award together.
However, they had to keep much more of a distance than we are used to seeing them at, posing for some hilarious photos together prior to filming the event.
Tim Minchin also gave a very Tim Minchin performance
Tim provided a musical interlude during proceedings, which was typical of his humour.
Here are the 2020 winners in full
- Leading actress: Glenda Jackson, Elizabeth Is Missing – BBC One
- Leading actor: Jared Harris, Chernobyl – Sky Atlantic
- Supporting actress: Naomi Ackie, The End Of The F***ing World – Channel 4
- Supporting actor: Will Sharpe, Giri/Haji – BBC Two
- Female performance in a comedy programme: Sian Clifford, Fleabag – BBC
- Male performance in a comedy programme: Jamie Demetriou, Stath Lets Flats – Channel 4
- Drama series: The End Of The F***ing World – Channel 4
- Single drama: The Left Behind – BBC Three
- Mini-series: Chernobyl – Sky Atlantic
- Entertainment performance: Mo Gilligan, The Lateish Show With Mo Gilligan – Channel 4
- Soap and continuing drama: Emmerdale – ITV
- International: When They See Us – Netflix
- Entertainment programme: Strictly Come Dancing – BBC One
- Comedy entertainment programme: Taskmaster – Dave
- Scripted comedy: Stath Lets Flats – Channel 4
- Reality and constructed factual: Race Across The World – BBC Two
- Features: The Misadventures Of Romesh Ranganathan – BBC Two
- Must-see moment (voted for by the public): Gavin And Stacey, Nessa proposes to Smithy – BBC One
- Current affairs: Undercover: Inside China’s Digital Gulag (Exposure) – ITV
- Single documentary: The Last Survivors – BBC Two
- Factual series: Leaving Neverland – Channel 4
- Specialist factual: Yorkshire Ripper Files: A Very British Crime Story – BBC Four
- News coverage: Hong Kong Protests – Sky News
- Sport: 2019 Rugby World Cup Final: England v South Africa – ITV
- Live event: Blue Planet Live – BBC One
- Short-form programme: Brain In Gear – BBC iPlayer
- Special award: Idris Elba
