Ever current (these things depend on my other commitments to work & life, and also how far down my list of interesting posts they are), the BAFTA TV awards took place about two weeks ago. Maybe three? I can’t even remember, it’s all a blur now! I should look it up, in the interest of proper journalism… OK, yeah 31st July, three weeks. That feels right.
I usually draw the line at watching award shows down the pecking order, anything below the Emmys seems kinda gratuitous, but this one had two interesting draws for me: firstly, Richard Ayoade was hosting and was bound to bring his trademark wry cynicism to the whole cherade; and secondly, I was curious about the notion of the nominees being on zoom together, having all recorded an acceptance speech in advance, without knowing if they had actually won yet!
Ayoade didn’t let me down, making deadpan quips about the weirdness and emptiness of it all whenever he could. Most awards were presented at a full studio’s distance by a TV celeb that had agreed to appear in person (Greg Davies, who had just won for the glorious Taskmaster, being the only one I remember now), but all the nominees and winners only appeared on live Zoom, or via a pre-recorded message. It made it all feel very shoddy, but in a marvelously “nah, let’s just do it, it’ll be funny” kinda way.
The pre-recorded acceptance speeches were bizarre! Because no one sounded like they really believed in it, there being a one in five chance they hadn’t actually won anything. There were also one or two very awkward mini-breakdowns from the live zoom feeds when folk did win. Most notably, Sian Clifford, who pipped her Fleabag co-star Phoebe Waller-Bridge to a surprise win. She looked like she needed help, bless her. A fact Ayoade didn’t miss, in gently lampooning her afterwards.
Idris Elba made a nice speech for his “special award” for services to British TV. Although, I do wonder what he did to really deserve that. There must have been a reason? Maybe they owed him one for snubbing him in the past? Or maybe he had made a big charitable donation, or something. It felt a bit forced anyway…
Other notable winners were a few for Chernobyl, which I have yet to see, including best actor for the ever watchable Jared Harris; The aforementioned Taskmaster deservedly won best entertainment series; Glenda Jackson sprung a surprise to win best actress, making a good point about these things rarely going to the “senior” stars. But, I was most pleased that one of my go to shows of 2019, the uniquely strange The End of the F***ing World, picked up both best drama and best supporting actress for Naomi Ackie, who was great in it, to be fair.
There were things going on that I couldn’t care less about, namely reality shows and soap Operas, but in the main it was an interesting bunch of winners. My interest is certainly piqued by Stath Let’s Flats, which won comedy script and comedy actor awards. I hadn’t even heard of it, and it was up against some good stuff I had seen and enjoyed, so that’s one to look out for.
Look, in the end it’s all quite unnecessary, and no one gives a hoot about these awards as much as the people involved. But it was a distracting bit of telly for a mercifully succinct hour and a half. And it made me like Richard Ayoade more than I already did. And he was already doing quite well, in my books.
The Wasteland 