{"id":664287,"date":"2026-05-11T17:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T17:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/664287\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T17:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T17:28:08","slug":"i-dare-you-to-censor-this-bbc-the-biggest-and-bravest-shocks-of-the-tv-baftas-television","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/664287\/","title":{"rendered":"I dare you to censor this, BBC! The biggest and bravest shocks of the TV Baftas | Television"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although it remains a modern masterpiece in terms of intention, execution and impact, Adolescence<\/a> has been ruinous for those of us who have to write about awards show surprises. Because, ever since it first hit screens, it has won everything in sight. And because Adolescence is very good, that isn\u2019t a surprise, and where\u2019s the fun in that?<\/p>\n

However, at last night\u2019s television Baftas<\/a>, the impossible happened: Adolescence actually managed to surprise me. Not purely because it keeps winning things a full 14 months after it debuted, but because of who won what.<\/p>\n

Until now, the wins have been easy to predict. If there was a limited series category, Adolescence would win it. If there was a best actor category, Stephen Graham would win it. If there was a best supporting actor category, Owen Cooper would win it. If there was a best supporting actress category, Erin Doherty would win it. Not so at the Baftas. For last night, for the first time since it debuted, Christine Tremarco got her flowers.<\/p>\n

This is huge \u2026 Christine Tremarco won the best supporting actress award over Erin Doherty. Photograph: Oliver Holms\/BAFTA\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

This is huge. You can see why Doherty has won so many times, because her role was a true actor\u2019s showcase. She came in for one episode, and that episode only starred two actors, and she had to convey the full sweep of emotion from warmth to anger to horror. But Tremarco had an even more challenging role. As Cooper\u2019s mother \u2013 and Stephen Graham\u2019s wife \u2013 she had to play the emotional backstop, the one who had to absorb and contain the household\u2019s emotion. It\u2019s such a tricky tone to get right, and Tremarco\u2019s mastery of it helped to deepen the show. Her win is a fitting way for the Adolescence awards show juggernaut to come to an end.<\/p>\n

Still, the Baftas has always delighted in these curveball victories, and there were no end of them last night. One of the biggest shocks was Katherine Parkinson\u2019s best comedy actress win for Here We Go. Not because she wasn\u2019t good \u2013 she\u2019s always good \u2013 but because this was lined up to be Amandaland\u2019s night. Amandaland, after all, won best scripted comedy, and the show absolutely relies on Lucy Punch\u2019s performance. And yet Punch lost the acting award.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest shocks \u2026 the brilliant Katherine Parkinson wins best comedy actress. Photograph: Dave Benett\/Alan Chapman\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

A possible explanation for this is the weird category structure of the Baftas themselves. The awards for comedy performance begin and end with lead acting; supporting trophies are for drama only. As a result of this, Amandaland stuffed everybody it could into one category. Punch was nominated, but so were Jennifer Saunders and Philippa Dunne. There is a very strong likelihood that this split the vote. Amandaland will be nominated again next year; if it is to win then, either the BBC needs to be more discerning about who to put up for nomination, or Bafta should shell out for a couple of new categories.<\/p>\n

Why wasn\u2019t she nominated? \u2026 Rose Ayling-Ellis in Code of Silence, which won best drama. Photograph: Samuel Dore\/ITV<\/p>\n

Elsewhere Code of Silence caused a minor upset by winning best drama. This is something surely no one saw coming, with most predictions guessing that Blue Lights (arguably more popular) or A Thousand Blows (essentially the cast of Adolescence in period costume) would triumph. Still, you could argue that Code of Silence was utterly dependent on Rose Ayling-Ellis\u2019s performance, so questions should be asked about her lack of a nomination.<\/p>\n

Deserves everyone\u2019s congratulations \u2026 Gaza: Doctors Under Attack. Photograph: Basement Films<\/p>\n

Also, this probably doesn\u2019t count as a surprise, because it was one of the best things on television over the last year, but the makers of Gaza: Doctors Under Attack deserve everyone\u2019s congratulations. This was a film, remember, that ended up being broadcast on Channel 4 after the BBC (its original broadcaster) got cold feet over it. An extra surprise is that the makers repeated some of the film\u2019s most shocking statistics in their acceptance speech, mentioning that Israel has bombed all of Gaza\u2019s hospitals, then dared the BBC not to edit it out of the ceremony\u2019s broadcast. To its credit, the BBC did not.<\/p>\n

We should also mention Last One Laughing, which walked away with two awards; best entertainment and entertainment performance. This is quite a breakthrough for the 32nd international remake of a decade-old Japanese format, not to mention one that only requires six hours of its participants\u2019 lives, but it looks like the show is here to stay. This will be the one to beat in the years to come.<\/p>\n

And finally, perhaps the biggest surprise of all. Bafta got through an entire ceremony without anyone calling it racist. This is unprecedented. May wonders never cease.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although it remains a modern masterpiece in terms of intention, execution and impact, Adolescence has been ruinous for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,134],"class_list":["post-664287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}