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Bafta Award winning The Only Way Is Essex. What has the world come to? Come back Harold Camping, all is forgiven. Give me a front row seat to the Rapture, for this is surely a sign of the apocalypse. The beginning of the end for mankind.
I jest, I jest. Mainly. After all, it was only an audience award. The Bafta isn’t even gold! Nothing a spray tan won’t fix, mind. Even so, there was a sense of disbelief in the room at the award show, though not necessarily disapproval.
Martin Freeman certainly look surprised - even by the standards of someone whose default look is one of bemusement, a look he humbly wore when he won the Supporting Actor gong. It was one of two deserved awards for Sherlock on the night, which also won best Drama Series. I’m a big fan of last year’s winner, Misfits, but I thought Sherlock, an interesting and refreshingly modern series, was a worthy winner. Holmes himself, Benedict Cumberbatch, lost out in one of the night’s most hotly contested categories, as he, along with Matt Smith and the sterling Jim Broadbent, lost out in the Leading Actor category to Daniel Rigby’s brilliant turn as Eric Morecambe in the charming Eric & Ernie.
The award for Leading Actress went to Vicky McClure for her incredibly powerful performance in This is England ’86, as she denied Anna Maxwell Martin her third win in the category. Another young upstart, Misfits’ Lauren Socha, won best Supporting Actress, as the Bafta judges showed a fondness for Channel 4’s council estate dramas, possibly causing some upsets in doing so.
Channel 4 also saw ambitious drama Any Human Heart triumph in best Drama Serial, beating The Sinking of Laconia, Mad Dogs and The Promise. It was the right winner in my eyes (but then I do love Jim Broadbent a bit).
One of the main surprises of the night may have been Miranda Hart’s loss to Jo Brand in the Female Comedy Performance category. While Miranda may have dominated January’s Comedy Awards, with her three awards seeing her being lauded by many as the queen of comedy, the Bafta panel favoured Brand’s performance in the lesser known (but infinitely better) Getting On.
The winner for Male Comedy Performance was a little less surprising. Out of James Buckley, David Mitchell and Tom Hollander, I would argue Hollander has the best claim to feel aggrieved at losing to the now three-times-Bafta-winning Steve Coogan. I had mixed feelings about The Trip, but thought Coogan certainly gave a good performance (as did the unfairly ignored Rob Brydon for that matter). Hollander can at least take solace in the fact that Rev beat The Trip to best Sitcom.
Another nominee who earned his first Bafta in a while was Graham Norton, who won in the category of best Entertainment Performance. Norton’s show is consistently funny and was unlucky not to go on and win best Entertainment Programme. The winner, another surprise, was ITV’s The Cube, which also beat Have I Got News For You and televisual juggernaught, The X Factor - a reward for the game show’s growing popularity.
So, while the ceremony itself may have been the usual awkward affair, with a string of disingenuous or rambling celebrities handing out awards (I’m looking at you, Tracy Emin) the awards themselves weren’t as predictable as they have been in recent years, as Bafta, more than ever, was able to reward the stars of tomorrow alongside those of today.
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