Female assassins, disgraced politicians, drug addicts and personal protection jockeyed for position on Sunday night in London, as the BAFTA TV Awards – the U.K.'s equivalent of the Emmys – welcomed the biggest names from the small screen across the Atlantic.
Killling Eve herself, Jodie Comer, got emotional on stage collecting her BAFTA for leading actress (beating out fellow nominee Sandra Oh who wasn’t at the ceremony), while Fiona Shaw joked backstage after her supporting actress win for the flamboyant drama that Brits had been "getting off their bicycles" to talk to her in the street about her role as a spy boss. The BBC America critical hit, written and developed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge from Luke Jennings' Codename Villanelle novellas, also took home the award for drama series.
Waller-Bridge admitted backstage that it was discussed that she could appear in a cameo in Killing Eve, "but by the time I was writing it, I'd written myself out of the casting bracket." Jodie Comer noted that "there is still time," prompting Waller-Bridge to state that she "would love to be murdered by Jodie." No further news came out about Phoebe Waller-Bridge's input in co-writing the upcoming Bond 25 as she had made a pact with herself that she wasn't going to discuss Bond at the BAFTAs, saying it was all about Killing Evefor the evening.
Benedict Cumberbatch said it was a "dream come true" to win leading actor and best mini-series wins for Sky/Showtime's Patrick Melrose, although his dream celebration may be harder to fulfill. "Dancing is usually the thing I can't wait to do," Cumberbatch revealed backstage after winning, "but it's usually just filmed and then immediately FaceTime lived, so I'm not that good a dancer, so somewhere where I can dance without being filmed I guess it what I'm after."
Based on the books by Edward St. Aubyn, who documented his own childhood trauma and years of substance abuse for the Patrick Melrose series, Cumberbatch noted it had been an "extraordinary experience and one that I will take with me for the rest of my life." When THR asked Benedict Cumberbatch what would be his lasting memory of working on the drama, he joked "quaaludes" before adding "I would say friendship honestly, truthfully, it was such a great collaboration; we can all look at this and be proud of every aspect of it."
Bond's Ben Whishaw was not at the London ceremony to pick up his supporting actor BAFTA for A Very English Scandal, while the international trophy went to HBO’s Succession. BBC/Netflix terrorism thrillerBodyguard won the only award voted for by the public, Virgin Media's Must-See Moment for the *spoiler alert* scene where Keeley Hawes' character Julia Montague is assassinated.
See full winners list below:
