Bafta television awards spotlights British social issues
LONDON - British prison drama Time and pandemic film Help were among the big winners at the British Academy Television (Bafta) Awards on Sunday (May 9) evening.
The ceremony is the most prestigious event in the British television calendar, and this year's edition marked a return to an in-person ceremony after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The event, hosted by British actor and comedian Richard Ayoade, ended up casting a spotlight on programming with a social bent.
Time, a three-part mini-series from the BBC, took home the Best Mini Series statue for its depiction of the prison system in the UK.
English actor Sean Bean won the Best Actor award for his starring role in the drama, as a former teacher who ends up in prison.
The award is the second television Bafta for Bean, who is famous for his appearances in TV series Game of Thrones (2011) and film trilogy Lord Of The Rings (2001 to 2003). He won his first Bafta for another BBC drama, Broken, in 2017.
Liverpool-born English actress Jodie Comer took home the coveted statue for Best Actress for the TV drama film Help (2021).
Comer, who plays a healthcare assistant working at a care home in Liverpool, gave a breathless speech admitting she was "scared" to be speaking among her peers.
But she composed herself enough to thank "all of the carers and the Dementia Society" for their willingness to share their experiences of care work in Britain.
Film-maker Steve McQueen, who directed and produced the Oscar-winning 12 Years A Slave (2012), also won a Bafta for his social documentary, Uprising.
The three-part series, which was made by the BBC, explores the events around the tragic New Cross house fire that killed 13 young black people in London in 1981.
London-based Singaporean actress Anjana Vasan was nominated for the Best Female Comedy Performance award for her role in sitcom We Are Lady Parts (2021) but lost out to Sophie Willan of Alma's Not Normal (2021), inspired by Willan's experiences of the UK care system.
We Are Lady Parts, which is about a group of Muslim women forming a punk rock band, also missed out on the Best Scripted Comedy statue, which went to motherhood sitcom Motherland (2016 to 2021).
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