BAFTA TV Awards 2023 WINNERS: Bad Sisters, The Traitors and The Masked Singer triumph

The Traitors and The Masked Singer were among the early winners at the 2023 British Academy Television Awards with P&O Cruises at London’s Royal Festival Hall on Sunday.

The star-studded ceremony saw the best and brightest of British TV descend on the capital, with hosts Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganatha acting as hosts for the evening.

One of the big winners proved to be BBC’s runwaway hit The Traitors, which scooped the Reality And Constructed Factual award, while host Claudia Winkleman won Entertainment Performance. 

While Anne-Marie Duff was awarded Supporting Actress for Bad Sisters, the viewer-voted BAFTA for the The P&O Cruises Memorable Moment Award was given the moment Paddington Bear enjoyed tea with The Queen during her Platinum Jubilee concert.

The BBC received the most nominations out of all the broadcasters with 47 nods in total, while Channel 4 received 21 and ITV scored 15. 

Riding high! The Traitors and The Masked Singer were among the early winners at the 2023 British Academy Television Awards with P&O Cruises at London’s Royal Festival Hall on Sunday 

At the start of the show, Siobhan McSweeney won her first BAFTA TV award for best female performance in a comedy programme, for playing Sister Michael, the eye-rolling principal of the show’s Our Lady Immaculate College in the Channel 4 programme Derry Girls.

The comedy about a group of teenagers growing up in Londonderry in the 1990s was a sleeper hit that built a large and committed following across its three series. Set during the Troubles, the show was praised for offering a new perspective on the period of the IRA and loyalist ceasefires through the eyes of a group of young girls.

In the humorous speech, which she said in double speed given the short time given, she said: ‘So I’ve been warned not to do a political statement, so as my mother laid dying in Cork, one of the very last things she said to me was would I not consider retraining as a teacher. If she could see me now, getting a Bafta for playing a teacher. Joke’s on you.’

She also thanked Derry Girls writer Lisa McGee ‘for not listening to me when I said I could play all the girls parts’ and she also thanked Channel 4, adding ‘you have my devotion’.

McSweeney added: ‘To the people in Derry, thank you taking me into your hearts and living room, despite the ignorance of your so-called leaders in Dublin, Stormont and Westminster. Into the words of my beloved Sister Michael, ‘its time they started to wise up’.

The reality and constructed factual award was given to psychological adventure show, The Traitors, and collecting the prize, presenter Claudia Winkleman, 51, said she and the team are ‘blown away by this, thank you so much’.

She also thanked the BBC and referenced the meeting where commissioning editors agreed to make the show saying: ‘We are going to Scotland, we’re going to use the word murder – are you okay with that?’

Things got even better for Claudia, as later that evening she received the Entertainment Performance award for hosting The Traitors.

Stellar! Siobhan McSweeney won her first BAFTA TV award for best female performance in a comedy programme, for playing Sister Michael in the Channel 4 programme Derry Girls

Stellar! Siobhan McSweeney won her first BAFTA TV award for best female performance in a comedy programme, for playing Sister Michael in the Channel 4 programme Derry Girls

Wow! She also thanked Derry Girls writer Lisa McGee 'for not listening to me when I said I could play all the girls parts' and she also thanked Channel 4, adding 'you have my devotion'

Wow! She also thanked Derry Girls writer Lisa McGee ‘for not listening to me when I said I could play all the girls parts’ and she also thanked Channel 4, adding ‘you have my devotion’

Over the moon! The reality and constructed factual award was given to psychological adventure show, The Traitors, and collecting the prize, presenter Claudia Winkleman, 51, said she and the team are 'blown away by this, thank you so much'

Over the moon! The reality and constructed factual award was given to psychological adventure show, The Traitors, and collecting the prize, presenter Claudia Winkleman, 51, said she and the team are ‘blown away by this, thank you so much’

Sensational! She also thanked the BBC and referenced the meeting where commissioning editors agreed to make the show saying: 'We are going to Scotland, we're going to use the word murder - are you okay with that?'

Sensational! She also thanked the BBC and referenced the meeting where commissioning editors agreed to make the show saying: ‘We are going to Scotland, we’re going to use the word murder – are you okay with that?’

What an honour! Things got even better for Claudia, as later that evening she received the Entertainment Performance award for hosting The Traitors

What an honour! Things got even better for Claudia, as later that evening she received the Entertainment Performance award for hosting The Traitors

BAFTA TV Awards Winners

DRAMA SERIES

Bad Sisters

The Responder

Sherwood

Somewhere Boy 

LEADING ACTOR

Ben Whishaw – This Is Going To Hurt

Chaske Spencer – The English

Cillian Murphy – Peaky Blinders

Gary Oldman – Slow Horses

Martin Freeman – The Responder

LEADING ACTRESS

Billie Piper – I Hate Suzie Too

Imelda Staunton – The Crown

Kate Winslet – I Am Ruth

Maxine Peake – Anne

Sarah Lancashire – Julia

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Adeel Akhtar – Sherwood

Jack Lowden – Slow Horse

Josh Finan – The Responder

Salim Daw –  The Crown

Samuel Bottomley – Somewhere Boy

Will Sharpe – The White Lotus 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Adelayo Adedayo – The Responder

Anne-Marie Duff – Bad Sisters

Fiona Shaw – Andor

Jasmine Jobson – Top Boy

Lesley Manville – Sherwood

Saffron Hocking – Top Boy

MALE PERFORMANCE IN A COMEDY PROGRAMME

Daniel Radcliffe – Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

Jon Pointing – Big Boys

Joseph Gilgun – Brassic

Lenny Rush – Am I Being Unreasonable?

Matt Berry – What We Do In The Shadows 

FEMALE PERFORMANCE IN A COMEDY PROGRAMME

Daisy May Cooper – Am I Being Unreasonable?

Diane Morgan – Cunk On Earth

Lucy Beaumont – Meet The Richardsons

Nastasia Demetriou – Ellie & Natasia

Siobhán McSweeney – Derry Girls – WINNER

Taj Atwal – Hullraisers 

INTERNATIONAL

The Bear

Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story

Wednesday

Oussekine

Pachinko

The White Lotus 

MINI-SERIES

A Spy Among Friends

Mood – WINNER

The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe 

This Is Going To Hurt

SINGLE DRAMA

I Am Ruth – WINNER

The House

Life and Death In The Warehouse  

SPORT

Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

UEFA Women’s Euro 2022

Wimbledon 2022 

DAYTIME

The Chase

The Repair Shop: A Royal Visit

Scam Interceptors 

COMEDY ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMME

Friday Night Live

The Graham Norton Show

Taskmaster

Would I Lie To You

ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMME

Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway 

Later… With Jools Holland: Jool’s 30th Birthday Bash

The Masked Singer

Strictly Come Dancing

ENTERTAINMENT PERFORMANCE

Big Zuu – Big Zuu’s Big Eats

Claudia Winkleman – The Traitors

Lee Mack – The 1% Club

Mo Gilligan – The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan

Rosie Jones – Rosie Jones’ Trip Hazard

Sue Perkins – Sue Perkins: Perfectly Legal

FACTUAL SERIES

Jeremy Kyle Show: Death On Daytime

Libby, Are You Home Yet?

Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi

Worlds Collide: The Manchester Bombing

FEATURES

Big Zuu’s Big Eats

Joe Lycett vs Beckham: Got Your Back at Xmas – WINNER

The Martin Lewis Money Show Livee

The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan

LIVE EVENT

Concert for Ukraine

Platinum Jubilee: Party at the Palace

The State Funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II

SCRIPTED COMEDY

Am I Being Unreasonable?

Big Boys

Derry Girls

Ghosts 

REALITY & CONSTRUCTED FACTUAL

Freddie Flintoff’s Field Of Dreams

RuPaul’s Drag Race UK

The Traitors – WINNER

We are Black and British 

SHORT FORM PROGRAMME

Always, Asifa

Biscuitland

How To Be A Person

Kingpin Crisis

SINGLE DOCUMENTARY

Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes

Escape From Kabul Airport

Our Falklands War: A Frontline Story

The Real Mo Farah 

SOAP & CONTINUING DRAMA

Casualty

EastEnders

Emmerdale 

SPECIALIST FACTUAL

AIDS: The Unheard TaPes

The Green Planet

How To Survive A Dictator with Munya Chawawa 

Russia 1985-1999: Traumazone

CURRENT AFFAIRS

Afghanistan: No Country For Women

Children of the Taliban

The Crossing (Exposure)

Mariupol: The People’s Story (Panorama) 

NEWS COVERAGE

BBC News at Ten: Russia Invades Ukraine

Channel 4 News: Live in Kyiv

Good Morning Britain: Boris Johnson Interview 

 

She won! Anne-Marie Duff won the Supporting Actress Award for the Apple TV+ comedy Bad Sisters

Honoured! She said she was 'completely shocked' as thanked the cast and production team

She won! Anne-Marie Duff won the Supporting Actress Award for the Apple TV+ comedy Bad Sisters, and said she was ‘completely shocked’ as thanked the cast and production team

What a prize! She added that TV is a 'political arena' and said she had a message to people at home

What a prize! She added that TV is a ‘political arena’ and said she had a message to people at home

Savage! Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan took digs at the BBC, the Gary Lineker controversy and the furore over Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield 's visit to the late Queen's lying in state as they opened the show

Savage! Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan took digs at the BBC, the Gary Lineker controversy and the furore over Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield ‘s visit to the late Queen’s lying in state as they opened the show

What a showman! Lenny Rush took home the award for Best Male Comedy Performance

Huge win! He scooped the honour for his lauded performance in Am I Being Unreasonable?

What a showman! Lenny Rush took home the award for Best Male Comedy Performance for his lauded performance in Am I Being Unreasonable?

Heartbreaking: Kate Winslet broke down in tears as she accepted the award for Single Drama for I Am Ruth

Heartbreaking: Kate Winslet broke down in tears as she accepted the award for Single Drama for I Am Ruth 

Moving: The Oscar winner appeared in the Channel 4 drama alongside her daughter Mia Threapleton

Moving: The Oscar winner appeared in the Channel 4 drama alongside her daughter Mia Threapleton

The presenter, 51, said she did not want to get emotional as her mascara ‘will run’ before asking her husband: ‘Please, can we have a dog?’

She also ‘thanked’ her mother and father and said it was ‘for you’ before saying: ‘You can’t have it… no, but you can touch it.’

Lenny Rush took home the award for Best Male Comedy Performance for his lauded performance in Am I Being Unreasonable?

Anne-Marie Duff won the Supporting Actress Award for the comedy Bad Sisters, said she was ‘completely shocked’ and thanked the cast and production team.

She added that TV is a ‘political arena’ and said she had a message to people at home.

Duff said: ‘If someone… is in their life who is bullying them who is telling them that who they are is wrong, that what they are isn’t enough… I am telling you now you are everything.’

In a shocking upset, The Masked Singer beat Ant And Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway and Strictly Come Dancing to win Best Entertainment Programme.

Host of the ITV show Joel Dommett said in his speech: ‘I really didn’t expect this, Strictly normally wins everything. Thank you so much to ITV firstly for believing in this silly show, it is so silly and it’s so wonderful, it has brightened up so many families and homes.

‘It is such a joy to make. All of the crew love making it. Thank you to all of the celebrities who have been on the show.’

Judge Mo Gilligan said: ‘People tied to mock it when it first came out, and now it has won a Bafta. It is great escapism…people at home don’t want to watch something depressing. We are just the faces of it, aren’t we Joel?’

Presented by Doctor Who returnees David Tennant and Catherine Tate, Joe Lycett Vs Beckham: Got Your Back At Xmas won the Bafta TV Features award.

The Channel 4 special of his show featured a stunt in which he threated to destroy £10,000 of his own money unless David Beckham pulled out of his deal with World Cup hosts Qatar, where homosexuality is still illegal.

Lycett later revealed he had not destroyed the cash through a shredder.

A statement from Lycett was read out on stage which said: ‘I’m sorry to not be there, but according to my PR team I have shingles.’

The refence to the conditions appears to be about presenter Holly Willoughby who revealed she had shingles before taking time off from This Morning due to the illness.

Comedian Lycett then thanked his team before ‘dedicating’ the award to ‘people still being oppressed in Qatar’.

Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan took digs at the BBC, the Gary Lineker controversy and the furore over Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield’s visit to the late Queen’s lying in state as they opened the awards with a string of edgy jokes.

The pair kicked off the ceremony in London’s Royal Festival Hall on Sunday night, with shows including The Crown, This Is Going To Hurt and Bad Sisters battling it out. 

It comes after it was confirmed earlier on Sunday that Holly and Phil will both appear on This Morning tomorrow, despite reports their friendship has completely broken down amid a tense 48 hours of talks.

Beckett said: ‘As we all know this year, there have been one or two issues with the subject of the BBC and balance. It’s not easy for comedians to host an award show on the BBC. We need to be funny. We need to be professional and also offer balanced views. This booking is perfect for balance.

‘I see a room filled with some of the hardest working and most talented people in TV all driven by a passion and a love for their craft.’

Ranganathan added: ‘Whereas I see a roomful of shark-eyed narcissists.’

The pair then chimed in unison: ‘Balance.’

Gesturing to Imelda Staunton, who is in the running for the best actress prize for her role as the late Queen in The Crown, Beckett said: ‘She’s nominated for her performance in The Crown.

‘Apparently, Holly and Phil got to watch that a couple of days before everybody else. A little bit of edge for you, early doors.’

The This Morning hosts were criticised on social media after they saw the late Queen lying in state without taking part in the public queue.

They later insisted they would ‘never jump a queue’ and their visit was for the purposes of reporting on the event.

Later Rob joked: ‘A few months back we were left hoping that The Traitors would be making a swift return to BBC One. Well that’s what some of the papers called the Match Of The Day presenters anyway. Are we edgy? I think we might be edgy.’

Lineker was briefly suspended as host of Match Of The Day in March over his criticism of the Government’s asylum policy on Twitter but returned to air following a boycott by top on-air talent at the broadcaster.

Pundits and presenters dropping out of a host of football shows in solidarity with Lineker prompted two days of disruption to TV and radio schedules.

Lavish! Stars descended on London's Royal Festival Hall for the star-studded ceremony

Lavish! Stars descended on London’s Royal Festival Hall for the star-studded ceremony

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