The Surprise Snubs & Deserving Winners Of The 2019 BAFTA TV Awards

Sunday night saw some of the biggest names in British television gather in London to celebrate the last year’s very best programmes. From Killing Eve to Bodyguard, Queer Eye to Louis Theroux’s Altered States, the most talked-about shows would finally find out if they’d been deemed worthy of taking home one of those heavy-looking awards. And though there were certain categories in which we could predict who would come out on top (here’s looking at you Phoebe Waller-Bridge), there were a few surprise snubs buried within the BAFTA TV 2019 winners list.

Shall we start with the positive outcomes to our predictions? Waller-Bridge’s international phenomenon Killing Eve took home three big awards this year, winning best drama series, best leading actress for Jodie Comer, and best supporting actress for Fiona Shaw. Though Comer was up against co-star Sandra Oh in her particularly strong category (they were joined by Ruth Wilson and Keeley Hawes), her win was perhaps the most readily celebrated of the night.

Comer, who plays Villanelle, your favourite TV assassin, gave an emotional acceptance speech in which she described writer Waller-Bridge as "the most talented person I know, also an inspiration" and dedicated her award to her grandmother, Nana Frances, who sadly passed away during the first week of filming the show.

Julia Davis’ wonderfully outrageous series Sally4Ever took home the gong for best scripted comedy, beating out Channel 4 favourite Derry Girls which, after a triumphant return for season two this year, was announced to be coming back for yet another series. Did BAFTA miss a trick here? Well, Davis was also nominated for best female performance in a comedy programme and, alongside This Country’s Daisy May Cooper (we’ll come back to her in a minute), lost to Jessica Hynes for her performance in There She Goes. Now, we’re pretty confident it’s not as straightforward a matter of divvying up those gold mask statues like so, but had Davis won female performance and been taken out of the scripted comedy equation, we reckon Derry Girls would’ve taken home the BAFTA they deserved.

"Excuse me, where is Bodyguard in all of this? It was only the most talked-about TV show of the year," you ask. You’re absolutely correct. Though it was snubbed by the powers that be this time around – not even a nomination for Richard Madden in the leading actor category – the public came through with the votes, crowning it the must-see moment of the year.

Benedict Cumberbatch won his first BAFTA for his role in Sky’s Patrick Melrose, a fantastic show that also took home the award for best mini-series. Ben Whishaw earned the gong for supporting actor, though Save Me’s Stephen Graham would have been a very deserving winner otherwise.

Outside London's Royal Festival hall was the red carpet, of course, where Daisy May Cooper was without a doubt the MVP. Opting to wear a bin bag dress (yes! A bin bag dress) trailing literal rubbish behind her, Cooper captured the type of sartorial attention that I'm pretty sure the BAFTA red carpet hasn't really seen before.

Humorous as it may seem, when asked about the dress she explained that it cost her "about a fiver". She added: "The reason I'm wearing this is if I wore a normal dress, that would cost a lot of money and I thought I'd donate that money to a local food bank and wear bin bags instead." Though Cooper was overlooked for her performance in This Country, memories of BAFTA TV 2019 will certainly revolve around her presence at the ceremony.

How do you feel about the BAFTA TV results this year? Mull it over as you peruse the full list of winners below.

Jodie Comer, Killing Eve - BBC One (Winner)
Keeley Hawes, Bodyguard - BBC One
Ruth Wilson, Mrs Wilson - BBC One
Sandra Oh, Killing Eve - BBC One

Benedict Cumberbatch, Patrick Melrose - Sky Atlantic (Winner)
Chance Perdomo, Killed By My Debt - BBC Three
Hugh Grant, A Very English Scandal - BBC One
Lucian Msamati, Kiri - Channel 4

Fiona Shaw, Killing Eve - BBC One (Winner)
Billie Piper, Collateral - BBC Two
Keeley Hawes, Mrs Wilson - BBC One
Monica Dolan, A Very English Scandal - BBC One

Ben Whishaw, A Very English Scandal - BBC One (Winner)
Alex Jennings, Unforgotten - ITV
Kim Bodnia, Killing Eve - BBC One
Stephen Graham, Save Me - Sky Atlantic

Lee Mack, Would I Lie To You? - BBC One (Winner)
Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway - ITV
David Mitchell, Would I Lie To You? - BBC One
Rachel Parris, The Mash Report - BBC Two

Steve Pemberton, Inside No 9 - BBC Two (Winner)
Alex Macqueen, Sally4Ever - Sky Atlantic
Jamie Demetriou, Stath Lets Flats - Channel 4
Peter Mullan, Mum - BBC Two

Jessica Hynes, There She Goes - BBC Four (Winner)
Daisy May Cooper, This Country - BBC Three
Julia Davis, Sally4Ever - Sky Atlantic
Lesley Manville, Mum - BBC Two

Killing Eve - BBC One (Winner)
Bodyguard - BBC One
Informer - BBC One
Save Me - Sky Atlantic

Killed By My Debt - BBC Three (Winner)
Bandersnatch (Black Mirror) - Netflix
Care - BBC One
Through The Gates (On The Edge) - Channel 4

Patrick Melrose - Sky Atlantic (Winner)
A Very English Scandal - BBC One
Kiri - Channel 4
Mrs Wilson - BBC One

EastEnders - BBC One (Winner)
Casualty - BBC One
Coronation Street - ITV
Hollyoaks - Channel 4

Succession - Sky Atlantic (Winner)
54 Hours - The Gladbeck Hostage Crisis - BBC Four
The Handmaid's Tale - Channel 4
Reporting Trump's First Year: The Fourth Estate (Storyville) - BBC Two

Britain's Got Talent - ITV (Winner)
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway - ITV
Michel McIntyre's Big Show - BBC One
Strictly Come Dancing - BBC One

A League of Their Own - Sky One (Winner)
The Big Narstie Show - Channel 4
The Last Leg - Channel 4
Would I Lie To You? - BBC One

Sally4Ever - Sky Atlantic (Winner)
Derry Girls - Channel 4
Mum - BBC Two
Stath Lets Flats - Channel 4

Who Do You Think You Are? - BBC One (Winner)
Gordon, Gino and Fred's Road Trip - ITV
The Great British Bake Off - Channel 4
Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing - BBC Two

Bodyguard - Julia Montague assassinated (BBC One) (Winner)
Coronation Street - Gail's monologue on the suicide of Aidan Connor (ITV)
Doctor Who - Rosa Parks, the Doctor and her companions make sure historical moments remain (BBC)
Killing Eve - Eve stabs Villanelle (BBC)
Peter Kay's Car Share - The Finale (BBC)
Queer Eye - Tom completes his transformation (Netflix)

Myanmar's Killing Fields (Dispatches) - Channel 4 (Winner)
Football's Wall of Silence - Al Jazeera English
Iran Unveiled: Taking on the Ayatollahs (Exposure) - ITV
Massacre at Ballymurphy - Channel 4

Gun No 6 - BBC Two (Winner)
Driven: The Billy Monger Story - BBC Three
My Dad, The Peace Deal And Me - BBC One
School For Stammerers - ITV

Louis Theroux's Altered States - BBC Two (Winner)
24 Hours in A&E - Channel 4
Life and Death Row: The Mass Execution - BBC Three
Prison - Channel 4

I'm A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! - ITV (Winner)
Dragon's Den - BBC Two
Old People's Home for 4 Year Old - Channel 4
The Real Full Monty: Ladies' Night - ITV

Suffragettes With Lucy Worsley - BBC One (Winner)
Bros: After The Screaming Stops - BBC Four
Grayson Perry: Rites Of Passage - Channel 4
Superkids: Breaking Away From Care - Channel 4

Cambridge Analytica Uncovered - Channel 4 (Winner)
Bullying and Harassment In The House Of Commons (Newsnight) - BBC Two
Good Morning Britain: On A Knife Edge - ITV
Good Morning Britain: Thomas Markle Exclusive - ITV

2018 World Cup Quarter Final: England v Sweden - BBC One (Winner)
2018 Six Nations: Scotland v England - BBC One
England's Test Cricket - Cook's Farewell - Sky Sports Cricket
Winter Olympics - BBC Two

Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance - BBC One (Winner)
Open Heart Surgery: Live - Channel 5
The Royal Wedding: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle - BBC One
Stand Up to Cancer - Channel 4

Missed Call - Real Stories (Winner)
Bovril Pam (Snatches From Women's Lives) - BBC Four
The Mind Of Herbert Clunkerdunk - BBC iPlayer
Wonderdate - BBC iPlayer

Baroness Joan Bakewell

Nicola Shindler