Sue Perkins is one shady lady and we love her for it
The BAFTA TV awards were held just yesterday evening and honoured the best and brightest in British television, with shows like Happy Valley, Murdered by My Family, The Night Manager and People Just Do Nothing winning some of the coveted statuettes. It wouldn't be an awards ceremony without a few made for TV moments, with emotional speeches and hilarious one liners taking the cake below.
Sue Perkins delivered shade at every turn
Sue Perkins, the BAFTAs’ host for the night, was on top form with biting political remarks and tongue-in-cheek quips about the night’s celebrities. Her opening monologue was packed to the brim with sly jokes, including references to Strictly Come Dancing (‘who would’ve thought watching Ed Balls ride a woman’s face around the stage to Gangnam Style would be the most normal thing to happen in politics all year’) and The Night Manager (‘who knew [Hugh Laurie] could do a convincing British accent?’).
She didn’t stray away from her recent ousting from The Great British Bake Off either. In a offhand comment about BBC’s The Replacement, she said ‘How amazing were Vicky McClure and Morven Christie in The Replacement? A show about how stressful it can be when someone takes over your job. I mean, I really couldn’t relate to it.’
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The Queen won a BAFTA (sort of)
By proxy, we guess. ITV’s coverage of The Queen’s 90th Birthday Celebration took home a BAFTA for best live event, with its presenters Ant and Dec taking to the stage to claim the award. While Netflix’s The Crown didn't quite perform as well as many thought it would , Ant and Dec brought home a win for the royal family by dedicating their award to Queen Elizabeth.
Ant said of the prize, ‘We’re quite happy to take [the BAFTA] round any time [the Queen] wants it. She pops the kettle on, and we’ll pop round with a BAFTA.’
Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s mum is a hero
The lead star and writer of Fleabag won a BAFTA for best Female Comedy Performance and her speech was true to the rebellious spirit of the show. After flirting with presenter Cuba Gooding Jr and revealing that she had been ‘wet-dreaming about getting a BAFTA [her] whole life’, it was actually her mum who won one of the biggest laughs of the night.
Phoebe thanked her mother and shared her incredible life advice, saying, ‘I want to thank my mother, who said to me, ‘Darling, you can be whatever you want to be - as long as you’re outrageous.’’
Planet Earth II’s daring iguana chase beat Game of Thrones
Not even Jon Snow could clinch this one, as the tense face off between an iguana and predatory snakes was deemed more epic than Game of Thrones’ Battle of the Bastards for Best TV Moment. The scene, which has been viewed more than 3 million times on YouTube, is narrated by David Attenborough and was voted in by the public. It also triumphed over Ed Balls’ Gangnam Style performance for Strictly Come Dancing, so there’s that.
Joanna Lumley was awarded the night’s highest honours
The hilarious British comedian was honoured with a BAFTA Fellowship award for her work in television. Awarded the prize by her close friend and Absolutely Fabulous writer Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley gave a beautiful speech celebrating the whole industry and diversity that had the audience grinning from ear to ear.
‘This for me is paradise. I wanted to be with people who left race and religion and age and gender and shoe size and things outside the door when they came. People who are in our profession don’t have those discriminations, I wanted to be in this great circus, in this fellowship and now I’m standing here...I couldn’t be happier,’ she said, before channeling Patsy Stone for her sign off.
The Crown didn’t win as big as we thought it would
Netflix’s new series about the life of the royal family was nominated for an eye-boggling twelve BAFTAs, however it only brought home two for Best Costume Design and Best Special, Visual and Graphic Effects. The lead actress Claire Foy lost the Best Leading Actress award to Happy Valley’s Sarah Lancashire, who thanked Foy and revealed her obsession with the series.
‘Claire Foy, you have given me the best 10 hours under a duvet that I have ever had,’ Sarah said in her awards speech.
