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The Netflix drama Adolescence, which won universal acclaim for its chilling portrayal of violence by disaffected teenage boys, has dominated the Bafta TV awards.
The four-part series where each episode was filmed in a single take won the award for best limited drama, while Stephen Graham, who co-created the show, took the best leading actor prize.
Graham, who had been nominated eight times before, talked about being inspired by the TV show Scully as a child. “For any other young kid, no matter where you’re from, anything is possible.”
“We’re not saving lives,” he said. “But we have the opportunity to tell the human condition. And we have the obligation to tell beautiful stories.”
Owen Cooper, who became a household name for his performance as 13-year-old Jamie Miller, who is arrested for murdering a girl at his school, also bagged the best supporting actor award, while Christine Tremarco claimed the title of best supporting actress.
While accepting his award, 16-year-old Cooper said: “In the words of John Lennon, you won’t get anything unless you have the vision to imagine it … I think you only need three things to succeed in life: one, an obsession, two, a dream, and three, the Beatles. So thank you so much.”
Other winners on the night included the crime series Code of Silence for best drama and Narges Rashidi for best leading actress in Prisoner 951, the true story of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the Briton imprisoned for six years in Iran.
The documentary Gaza: Doctors Under Attack took the spoils in the current affairs category. The film was picked up by Channel 4 after first being commissioned by the BBC, then dropped over impartiality fears, which sparked uproar from within the corporation and the wider media.
Ramita Navai, the film’s reporter, criticised the BBC and paid tribute to the 1,700 Palestinian doctors and healthcare workers killed by Israel. “These are the findings of our investigation that the BBC paid for, but refused to show. But we refuse to be silenced and censored,” she said.
Its executive producer Ben De Pear then dared the BBC to edit the remarks out of the ceremony, which is broadcast on a two-hour time delay. “Given you dropped the film, will you drop us from the Bafta screening?” he asked.
Channel 4 was also recognised for its news coverage of the Israel-Iran war, beating Sky News’s reporting on Gaza and BBC Newsnight’s programme giving a voice to grooming gang survivors.
The other factual categories were won by Simon Schama for his BBC Two documentary The Road to Auschwitz, and Channel 4’s series See No Evil, about the Church of England scandal over the prolific abuser John Smyth, which led to the resignation of the archbishop of Canterbury.
Netflix’s Grenfell: Uncovered, which combines footage from the disaster and subsequent public inquiry with testimony from survivors and bereaved families, was named best single documentary.
Its director, Olaide Sadiq, said: “The victims of Grenfell deserve much more than remembrance. They deserve accountability, they deserve change and, most importantly, they deserve justice.”
A week after the star-studded lineup for series two of The Celebrity Traitors was announced, the first series of the celebrity spin-off of the BBC phenomenon won best reality show.
Traitor Alan Carr breaking down in tears after winning the series was voted by the public as the most memorable moment of the year. After picking up his trophy, Carr said: “Was I good? Was I really – or were the other celebrities just thick?!”
The best scripted comedy category was won by the BBC sitcom Amandaland, the Motherland spin-off featuring Lucy Punch as the clueless north London mother who is downsizing after her divorce.
Both Punch and Jennifer Saunders were nominated for best actress in a comedy for Amandaland, but were beaten by Katherine Parkinson for her role as Rachel Jessop in the BBC sitcom Here We Go, about the everyday life of an oddball family.
Steve Coogan won the award for best actor in a comedy for his latest portrayal of his iconic character Alan Partridge in his mockumentary about the UK’s mental health crisis, How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge).
Last One Laughing UK, hosted by Jimmy Carr and produced by Amazon, won the best entertainment show, with the series winner, Bob Mortimer, landing best performance in that category.
EastEnders won best soap for the second year running, beating Casualty and Coronation Street.
