An emotional Stephen Graham was awarded Best Actor at the British Academy Television Awards, as his show Adolescence broke records at London’s Royal Festival Hall on Sunday.
The actor, 52, revealed he had previously been nominated eight times for shows including Help, Time and This Is England ’90 , before finally landing the gong for Adolescence.
The four-part Netflix show, which received a staggering 11 nominations when it was announced in March, received the most ever wins for a series as it also took home Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Limited Drama.
Adolescence, which was created by actor Stephen and writer Jack Thorne, tells the story of British teenager Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper), who is found guilty of murdering a female classmate after being sucked in by the manosphere online.
Each episode is filmed in one continuous shot and has been widely praised for addressing topics such as online radicalisation and misogyny.
During his acceptance speech, Stephen, who played Jamie’s father, said: ‘I might take my time. I’ve been nominated eight times and this is the first time I’ve won. I’d like to thank all my fellow nominees. Especially our James and our Ellis, both of you are magnificent. When I was a kid, I watched a television programme called Scully, written by Alan Bleasdale, and it had the wonderful Drew Schofield in it.
An emotional Stephen Graham was awarded Best Actor at the British Academy Television Awards at London’s Royal Festival Hall on Sunday
Owen Cooper continued his award winning streak as he took home the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor
‘He lived across the road from my nannas house so he showed me then that I could be on the television. Drew was such a wonderful man. He was my inspiration so for any young kid, no matter where you’re from, anything is possible.’
Owen, 16, who has made history by becoming the youngest winner of the Best Supporting Actor award at both the Golden Globes and the Emmy Awards, continued his award-winning streak as he took home the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor.
Meanwhile, Christine Tremarco, who played Owen’s mother in the show, won Best Supporting Actress in a surprise result beating co-star Erin Doherty, who previously took home the Golden Globe and Emmy Award.
Stephen wiped away tears as Christine took to the stage and said: ‘I hold this BAFTA high to Hannah Walters and Stephen Graham, thank you so much.’
The Netflix series also won in the Limited Drama category, beating the shows; Fought The Law (ITV), Trespasses (Channel 4) and What It Feels Like For A Girl (BBC Three).
Owen said of his win: ‘Every time we are at these events and your name gets called out your mind flashes back to your first audition, the first time on set, the first time you met the cast, it’s been an unreal two years. I’m just grateful to everyone who is here today.’
When asked how it’s changed his life and what he wants to do next he said: ‘I don’t know what I want to do next. It’s changed my life because I’ve met all these beautiful people, me and my family have travelled the world, so it’s just amazing.
‘Erin [Doherty] was the first person that I ever worked with so it was a dream to film. It was hard to do, I’m not doing to stand here and say it was easy, it was hard to do that in front of a stranger I have never met but Erin and the crew were so kind.’
Producer Mark Herbert of Warp films, added: ‘Big thanks to Stephen Graham for bringing this gang together. The script ripped our hearts and it punched us in the guts’. He also thanked Netflix boss Anne Mensah who had picked up the project after Amazon Prime Video had passed on it.’
Adolescence tells the story of British teenager Jamie Miller (played by Owen), who is found guilty of murdering a female classmate after being sucked in by the manosphere online
Best Drama Series went to ITV’s Code Of Silence
Code Of Silence follows Rose Ayling-Ellis as Alison Brooks – a deaf canteen worker who uses her exceptional lip-reading skills to help police investigate a dangerous jewellery heist
Meanwhile, Christine Tremarco, who played Owen’s mother, won Best Supporting Actress in a surprise result beating co-star Erin Doherty
Amandaland’s Lucy Punch presented Owen the award
Amandaland won the BAFTA for scripted comedy but Lucy missed out on the Actress In A Comedy award
Amandaland follows the demise of Motherland’s snooty Queen Bee, who has moved from a lavish life in well-to-do Chiswick to becoming a single mother in South Harlesden
Danny Dyer and his daughter Dani presented the Reality Award, which was won by The Celebrity Traitors
Host Claudia gave a speech for the series, which attracted a staggering 15million viewers for its finale
Traitor Alan Carr, who won the show, proudly held up the gong
The comedian, 49, later went on to win P&O Cruises Memorable Moment Awards for Celebrity Traitors
The series was a hit as viewers watched a bumbling Alan manage to hoodwink all the Faithfuls and scoop the jackpot
Steve Coogan accepts the Actor in a Comedy Award for How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge)
Katherine Parkinson accepted the Actress In A Comedy Award for Here We Go
The Lead Actress BAFTA went to Narges Rashidi for Passenger 951, who beat Aimee Lou Wood, Jodie Whitaker and Sheridan Smith
Code Of Silence scooped Best Drama. It follows Rose Ayling-Ellis as Alison Brooks – a deaf canteen worker who uses her exceptional lip-reading skills to help police investigate a dangerous jewellery heist.
The Lead Actress BAFTA went to Narges Rashidi for Passenger 951, who beat Aimee Lou Wood, Jodie Whitaker and Sheridan Smith.
The drama is the true story of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe who was wrongfully imprisoned in Iran for spying. She, her husband and their daughter were at the ceremony.
She said: ‘It was very emotional role to play, big shoes to fill. Lots of responsibility and an absolute honour. It’s an important story about justice and injustice and about love and family. It was the greatest gift to get as an actor. I am so overwhelmed, I can’t find words, it’s incredible. It was such a competitive category filled with so many women that I love and admire.’
Amandaland starring Lucy Punch won the BAFTA for scripted comedy. The show follows the demise of Motherland’s snooty Queen Bee, who has moved from a lavish life in well-to-do Chiswick to becoming a single mother in the less-than-desirable South Harlesden – which she christens ‘SoHa’.
Writer Holly Walsh said she loved when people said they watched the show with their children.
She said: ‘We can all enjoy watching a posh woman from Chiswick getting hit in the face with a football.’
However, Lucy and her co-star Philippa Dunne missed out on the Actress In A Comedy gong, which went to Katherine Parkinson for her performance in BBC One’s Here We Go.
Katherine thanked her husband Stephen during her acceptance speech, who she said: ‘wasn’t here tonight because he didn’t think I’d win.’
Claudia Winkleman accepted the Reality Award for The Celebrity Traitors.
The host, 54, revealed she had flown down from Scotland on Saturday morning from filming the second series to collect the gong.
The Traitors host left less than half an hour after receiving the BAFTA to get back on the plane and return to Ardross Castle.
On the win, she said: ‘My favourite things when I’m told I’m taking part in the show. I couldn’t believe it in the second series that I was taking part. I love every single aspect because everybody who works on the team is obsessed by it, obsessed by the game.
‘So I love watching how the traitors behave and how the faithful behave, and I want both of both sides to win equally. So it’s confusing.
‘Social media is so important to the show, people who watch together as families is my favourite thing of all and it feels like a real communal moment.
‘We came down from Scotland this morning and I am leaving again in eight minutes.’
Meanwhile, Alan Carr, 49, who won the series as a Traitor, dedicated his Most Memorable Moment Award win to his close friend Paloma Faith, who he ruthlessly murdered in plain sight on the show.
He said: ‘There’s no one else I would rather murder than you.’
The Entertainment BAFTA was awarded to Last One Laughing, which also scored big on the night.
The show, which followed ten comedians competing to make each other laugh without laughing themselves, also saw Bob Mortimer scoop Best Comedy Performance.
Host Roisin Conaty said: ‘Thank you it’s such an amazing honour. This is such a beast of a show, it’s like a war room.’
Judi Love added: ‘This was a show that you can sit down and enjoy with all generations of your family and that’s what TV in the UK is about.’
Steve Coogan won a BAFTA for actor in a comedy for his performance in How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge).
He said: ‘If anyone wants to know when Alan Partridge is going to die, it’s probably about the same time as I am going to die – I will keep doing it.
‘Doing comedy in times like this is so important and it’s a privilege to make people laugh. I’m not going to be very funny because my comedy writers haven’t written anything funny for me to say.’
The actor is currently filming The White Lotus series 4 in Cannes. Before the show, he addressed the surprise exit of actress Helena Bonham Carter, who left after three days filming. He said: ‘It just went in a different direction. It was like, sometimes you find that something isn’t working the way you want it to, in terms of, like, the character and the dynamic of the whole story. So that was just a mutual decision … The whole part was rewritten from scratch.’
The Specialist Factual BAFTA was won by Simon Schama’s The Road to Auschwitz. ‘I think the BBC is the only broadcasting institution that would dare to make this kind of film,’ said the historian.
‘It’s all the more important for us as storytellers to convey as vividly and seriously without preaching the importance of not going near the possibility of that happening again. We took on the task of trying to do that description.’
Simon Schama: The Road to Auschwitz is a personal and harrowing BBC Two documentary which aired April 2025 and examines the Holocaust, focusing on European complicity, the “empire of plunder,” and the rapid escalation of violence from 1941.
Schama visits sites of atrocities to highlight how ordinary people participated in the genocide.
The BAFTA for factual series went to See No Evil, about the career of prolific abuser John Smyth and the 35 year cover up which led to the fall of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The BAFTA single documentary went to Grenfell: Uncovered.
Alan Carr and Oliver Savell presented the Scripted Comedy Award which was won by Amandaland
The Entertainment BAFTA was awarded to Last One Laughing with the cast of series one heading to stage to accept the gong
Tinie Tempah presented the Specialist Factual Award, which went to Simon Schama: The Road to Auschwitz
Gabby Logan accepted the Sports Coverage Award for UEFA Women’s Euro 2025
Frida Perez, Peter Huyck, Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen, Chase Sui Wonders and James Weaver celebrated their win of the International Award for The Studio
The BAFTA Fellowship was presented to Dame Mary Berry DBE by former Great British Bake Off presenters Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins
Dame Mary took to the stage in a blush pink dress from Holland and Cooper
Stephen, Christine , Stephen’s wife Hannah Walters, Owen, Ashley Walters and Erin Doherty with the Limited Drama Award
Owen proudly posed with his Supporting Actor Award after the ceremony
Narges looked elegant in a sweeping dress as showed off her gong
Ike Barinholtz, Seth Rogen and Chase Sui Wonders with the International Award for The Studio
Jody Collins, Harriet Kemsley, Lou Sanders, Ben Hardy, Katy Manley, Richard Cohen, Ruth Phillips and Peter Holmes (L-R) winners of the Entertainment Award for Last One Laughing
Benedict Sanderson, Tom Cross, Katie Greening, Otto Burnham, Kira Phillips and Hamish Fergusson (left to right), winners of the Factual Series Award for See No Evil
Gabby, who cut a glamorous figure in a black sequin gown, showed off the BAFTA
Steve Coogan won the Actor In A Comedy Award for How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge)
EastEnders Diane Parish, Jessie Wallace and Michelle Collins celebrated winning in the Best Soap category
Simon Schama (pictured) The Road to Auschwitz is a personal and harrowing BBC Two documentary which aired April 2025 and examines the Holocaust
Martin Lewis received the BAFTA Television Special Award
Richard Osman and Graham Norton posed during the ceremony
Amanda Holden, Alan and Paloma Faith were all in attendance
Gladiators star Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Dame Mary Berry, who was awarded The BAFTA Fellowship, posed for a snap
The Celebrity Traitors’ star Cat Burns performed How To Be Human
Norwegian singer-songwriter AURORA performed Through the Eyes of a Child from BAFTA-nominated Netflix series Adolescence
The Current Affairs BAFTA went to the series Gaza: Doctors Under Attack. It had been commissioned by the BBC but went out on Channel 4.
The corporation paused its production following the launch of an investigation into another documentary Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone, which starred the son of a leader of Hamas – a fact that the film failed to mention.
Producer Ramita Navai spoke about the ‘medicide’ which had cost the lives of 400 doctors and said: ‘The BBC paid for the investigation but refused to show it, but we refused to be silenced and censored. We thank Channel 4 for showing this film.’
Producer Ben de Pear added: ‘Right now there are over 80 Palestinian doctors being held in detention centres and Israeli human rights groups described as torture camps, we dedicate this award to them. Just a question to the BBC – given that you dropped our film will you drop us from the BAFTA show later tonight? Thank you goodnight.’
Seth Rogen, the star of Apple’s The Studio, said he was baffled by all the attention for acting legend Celia Imrie and her infamous wind-passing during Celebrity Traitors.
He said: ‘I assume this woman in the green dress is a very accomplished and talented woman, but all I know is that she farted on a reality TV show. What else have you done?’
Celia’s notorious wind-breaking wasn’t nominated for the memorable moment but was referred to a number of times on the stage, including by the actress herself who presented an award and said that she had been sent a gift wrapped tin of baked beans.
Seth went on the dedicate his win to his co-star in the show, the late actress Katherine O’Hara.
Before the ceremony, Fleur East and Roman Kemp presented live on the red carpet on BAFTA’s YouTube.
The Celebrity Traitors’ star Cat Burns performed How To Be Human, while for the In Memoriam, Norwegian singer-songwriter AURORA performed Through the Eyes of a Child from BAFTA-nominated Netflix series Adolescence.
The BAFTA Fellowship was presented to Dame Mary Berry DBE by former Great British Bake Off presenters Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins.
Dame Mary, 91, said: ‘Thank you to my dear friends Mel and Sue, they have led me astray since day one. I’m a cook. I’m a teacher so I feel very honoured to be given BAFTAs highest award. It seems no time at all that I left Bath High School with just two O levels in needlework and cookery.’
Dame Mary went on: ‘My first programme was on Collector’s World filmed in Bristol in 1971 with Arthur Negis and Humphrey Littleton. I cooked a cow’s udder pie and you don’t forget that one. When I started it was just me – no home economist no back up – and I loved every minute of it
‘Bake Off came along and my whole world changed. It was about those jackets and I could tuck a hot water bottle underneath because the tent was so cold in the morning first thing. I see myself as a teacher and television is the biggest classroom there is.
‘So what’s next for me at the age of 91. I have just started my own YouTube channel. We shall see.’
The icon thanked her husband, who is 94 and was watching at home, as well as paying tribute to her children, her daughter Annabel and late son Thomas William, who tragically died in a car accident while coming home from university aged 19.
She said: ‘William is in heaven but I thank him.’
Martin Lewis CBE received the BAFTA Television Special Award.
