On Sunday, April 28, in London, the British Academy celebrated its television production talent at the BAFTA TV Craft Awards. Stephen Mangan, an Irish-English actor known for roles in Green Wing, Rush and Billy Elliot, hosted the ceremony. As explained by the Hollywood Reporter, the BAFTA TV Craft Awards recognize behind-the-scenes talent as opposed to on-screen talent, which will celebrated by the main BAFTAs on Sunday, May 12.
Amazon and BBC’s A Very English Scandal, which took home three awards after being nominated for twelve, was a top winner on Sunday night. The miniseries’s recognitions included best costume design, best editing, and best director for Stephen Frears. The show is a loose retelling of the Jeremy Thorpe Scandal, and stars Hugh Grant as the disgraced politician.
Meanwhile, BBC’s Killing Eve also had reason to celebrate on Sunday. The hugely successful spy drama racked up a total of nine nominations and took home two prizes, one for best sound in a fiction series and another for best original music. According to BBC, it is predicted that Killing Eve‘s success will carry onto the main BAFTAs next month, for which it has five nominations.
The show’s award season success is all the more significant, given the rules that BAFTA had to bend in order for the program to receive any recognitions at all. As BBC explains in an article from March, only television shows that broadcast in the United Kingdom prior to premiering in the United States are eligible for BAFTA nominations. Given that Killing Eve premiered in the states five months prior to the United Kingdom, the television committee had to adjust their eligibility criteria.
A representative from BAFTA explained this process to BBC: “BAFTA’s television committee deems Killing Eve a British series. Killing Eve received 14 nominations, nine of which were eligible under BAFTA’s criteria, and five of which were deemed eligible by the TV committee due to the significant creative contribution from key UK talent throughout the production. The television committee is the arbiter of all eligibility.”
Other winners include Daisy May Cooper and Charlie Cooper for best comedy writing on Our Country, Vicki Lang for best make-up and hair design on Vanity Fair, and David Nicholls for best writer on a drama series for his work on Patrick Melrose. See a complete list of winners here.
The main BAFTAs will likely take place at the Royal Festival Hall. Tune into BBC1 on May 12 to watch the ceremony.