London: Wolf Hall won TV awards at this year’s
BAFTA Television awards, on a night that contained several speeches that
defended the independence of BBC.
Mark Rylance received the leading actor
award for his role as Thomas Cromwell in the BBC Two historical drama, which also
picked up the drama prize.
The leading actress prize went to Suranne
Jones for her role in the BBC One marital drama Doctor Foster. The ceremony, hosted by Graham Norton, took place at
London’s Royal Festival Hall on Sunday night.
It comes just days before the government
prepares to publish a white paper that sets out the BBC’s future role, function
and structure.
Wolf Hall won the first
award of the night for drama series. Its director, Peter Kosminsky, used his
acceptance speech to defend the independence of the BBC, saying it was “under
threat”.
Talking about the notion that government
appointees might sit on the editorial board he said: “This is scary stuff
folks... it’s not their BBC - it’s your BBC.”
The government declined to comment ahead
of the white paper’s publication.
Sir Lenny Henry, picking up a special
award for his outstanding contribution to TV, used to his speech to renew his
call for the BBC to include diversity as part of its charter.
He hoped that “All those 14-year-olds
out there super-glued to their phones who hope to work in TV irrespective of
their race, gender sexuality, class, disability, can realize that ambition as I
was able to realize mine — if we do this we will make this fantastic industry
even greater.”
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