Michaela Coel took up two BAFTA TV Awards 2021 awards for her acclaimed series ‘I May Destroy You’ on Sunday, making her the biggest winner.

At the ceremony in London, the actress, 33, was ecstatic to win the Leading Actress award, as well as the Best Mini-Series award and the Best Writer (Drama) honor.

Diversity won Must See TV Moment for their contentious Britain’s Got Talent performance of a Black Lives Matter-inspired dance, while Paul Mescal, 25, from the film Normal People, was named Leading Actor.

Following the event, viewers commended BAFTA for recognizing a ‘brilliant list of diverse talent’ and hailed the awards for being “very inclusive.”

‘Thank you BAFTA and thank you to the jury for selecting me as your winner today,’ Michaela said as she accepted her Leading Actress award.

Before extending her gratitude to fellow nominees: “A huge shoutout to Billie [Piper], Daisy [Edgar-Jones], Hayley [Squires] , Jodie [Comer] and Letitia [Wright] because you guys are literally sick.”

She went on to add: “Also, I shouldn’t really say it but I wrote my words and I know that your talent to take words that a writer has written and make it sound like your own is unbelievable and I really hope I get to work with each of you one day.
“I did write a speech, I want to dedicate this award to the director of intimacy, Rita O’Brien.

“Thank you for your existence in our industry, for making the space safe, for creating physical, emotional and professional boundaries so that we can make work about exploitation, loss of respect, about abuse of power without being exploited and abused in the process.
She goes on: “I know what it’s like to shoot without an intimacy director – the messy embarrassing feeling for the crew, the eternal devastation for the actor.
“Your direction was essential to my show and essential for every production company that wants to make work exploring themes of content. Thank you BAFTA.”

Coel’s latest awards adds to her previous BAFTAS from 2016 where she won awards for the Breakthrough Talent and Best Female Comedy performance categories for her hit E4 comedy show ‘Chewing Gum.’

In other news, Diversity’s Black Lives Matter performance on Britain’s Got Talent was voted Virgin Media’s Must-See Moment, going up against when Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) was revealed as Lady Whistledown in Bridgerton, and when Luke Skywalker made an appearance in the second season finale of The Mandalorian.

Speaking of their award, which was the single public vote on Sunday night, Ashley reflected on the challenging times following their powerful performance and mountains of complaints that followed suit, that only proved that ‘so much needs to change.’

He said: “This is mad! This is so much more than just an award, I first want to say ty to every single person who voted for us, it means so much, every phone call, text, comment, DM you guys made a difference to what was a really dark time.

“Being in a storm of 30,000 comments just being in a torrent of threats, that support made a different. I want to say thank you to the people who poured that abuse online, you showed why that performance was necessary.

He continued: “As much as there’s so many conversations and so much needs to change, this is what change looks like, I’m so thankful to all those people, for me it’s not about presenting the minority, standing here right now this represents the majority, thank you so much. Let’s keep standing up for what’s right.”

Congratulations to all the winners in this year’s BAFTA TV Awards.

See below for the full list of winners and the categories.

DRAMA SERIES
GANGS OF LONDON
I HATE SUZIE
SAVE ME TOO – WINNER
THE CROWN

LEADING ACTOR
JOHN BOYEGA – Small Axe
JOSH O’CONNOR – The Crown
PAAPA ESSIEDU – I May Destroy You
PAUL MESCAL – Normal People – WINNER
SHAUN PARKES – Small Axe
WALEED ZUAITER – Baghdad Central

LEADING ACTRESS
BILLIE PIPER – I Hate Suzie
DAISY EDGAR-JONES – Normal People
HAYLEY SQUIRES – Adult Material
JODIE COMER – Killing Eve
LETITIA WRIGHT – Small Axe
MICHAELA COEL – I May Destroy You – WINNER

SUPPORTING ACTOR
KUNAL NAYYAR – Criminal: UK
MALACHI KIRBY – Small Axe – WINNER
MICHAEL SHEEN – Quiz
MICHEAL WARD – Small Axe
RUPERT EVERETT – Adult Material
TOBIAS MENZIES – The Crown

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
HELENA BONHAM CARTER – The Crown
LEILA FARZAD – I Hate Suzie
RAKIE AYOLA – Anthony – WINNER
SIENA KELLY – Adult Material
SOPHIE OKONEDO – Criminal: UK
WERUCHE OPIA – I May Destroy You

COMEDY ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMME
CHARLIE BROOKER’S ANTIVIRAL WIPE
ROB & ROMESH VS Jack Shillaker
THE BIG NARSTIE SHOW – WINNER
THE RANGANATION

FEMALE PERFORMANCE IN A COMEDY PROGRAMME
AIMEE LOU WOOD – Sex Education – WINNER
DAISY HAGGARD – Breeders
DAISY MAY COOPER – This Country
EMMA MACKEY – Sex Education
GBEMISOLA IKUMELO – Famalam
MAE MARTIN – Feel Good

MALE PERFORMANCE IN A COMEDY PROGRAMME
CHARLIE COOPER – This Country -WINNER
GUZ KHAN – Man Like Mobeen
JOSEPH GILGUN – Brassic
NCUTI GATWA – Sex Education
PAUL RITTER – Friday Night Dinner
REECE SHEARSMITH – Inside No.9

MINI-SERIES
ADULT MATERIAL
I MAY DESTROY YOU – WINNER
NORMAL PEOPLE
SMALL AXE

CURRENT AFFAIRS
AMERICA’S WAR ON ABORTION (EXPOSURE) – WINNER
ITALY’S FRONTLINE: A DOCTOR’S DIARY
THE BATTLE FOR HONG KONG (DISPATCHES)
THE CYPRUS PAPERS UNDERCOVER (AL JAZEERA INVESTIGATIONS)

DAYTIME
JIMMY MCGOVERN’S MOVING ON
RICHARD OSMAN’S HOUSE OF GAMES
THE CHASE
THE GREAT HOUSE GIVEAWAY – WINNER

ENTERTAINMENT PERFORMANCE
ADAM HILLS – The Last Leg
BRADLEY WALSH – Beat the Chasers
CLAUDIA WINKLEMAN – Strictly Come Dancing
DAVID MITCHELL – Would I Lie to You? At Christmas
GRAHAM NORTON – The Graham Norton Show
ROMESH RANGANATHAN – The Ranganation – WINNER

ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMME
ANT & DEC’S SATURDAY NIGHT TAKEAWAY
LIFE & RHYMES – WINNER
STRICTLY COME DANCING
THE MASKED SINGER

FACTUAL SERIES
CRIME & PUNISHMENT
HOSPITAL
LOSING IT: OUR MENTAL HEALTH EMERGENCY
ONCE UPON A TIME IN IRAQ – WINNER

FEATURES
BIG ZUU’S BIG EATS
LONG LOST FAMILY: BORN WITHOUT TRACE – WINNER
MORTIMER AND WHITEHOUSE: GONE FISHING
THE REPAIR SHOP

NEWS COVERAGE
BBC NEWS AT TEN: PRIME MINISTER ADMITTED TO INTENSIVE CARE
CHANNEL 4 NEWS: DETERRING DEMOCRACY
NEWSNIGHT: COVID CARE CRISIS
SKY NEWS: INSIDE IDLIB – WINNER

REALITY & CONSTRUCTED FACTUAL
MASTERCHEF: THE PROFESSIONALS
RACE ACROSS THE WORLD
THE SCHOOL THAT TRIED TO END RACISM – WINNER
THE WRITE OFFS

SINGLE DRAMA
ANTHONY
BBW (ON THE EDGE)
SITTING IN LIMBO – WINNER
THE WINDERMERE CHILDREN

SOAP & CONTINUING DRAMA
CASUALTY – WINNER
CORONATION STREET
EASTENDERS
HOLLYOAKS

INTERNATIONAL
LITTLE AMERICA
LOVECRAFT COUNTRY
UNORTHODOX
WELCOME TO CHECHNYA: THE GAY PURGE (STORYVILLE) – WINNER

LIVE EVENT
LIFE DRAWING LIVE!
SPRINGWATCH – WINNER
THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION FESTIVAL OF REMEMBRANCE
THE THIRD DAY: AUTUMN Production Team

SCRIPTED COMEDY
GHOSTS
INSIDE NO. 9 – WINNER
MAN LIKE MOBEEN
THIS COUNTRY

SHORT FORM PROGRAMME
CRIPTALES
DISABLED NOT DEFEATED: THE ROCK BANS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES – DELTA 7
THE MAIN PART
THEY SAW THE SUN FIRST – WINNER

SINGLE DOCUMENTARY
AMERICAN MURDER: THE FAMILY NEXT DOOR
ANTON FERDINAND: FOOTBALL, RACISM & ME
LOCKED IN: BREAKING THE SILENCE (STORYVILLE) – WINNER
SURVIVING COVID

VIRGIN MEDIA’S MUST-SEE MOMENT (voted for by the public)
BRIDGERTON – Penelope is revealed as Lady Whistledown
BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT – Diversity perform a routine inspired by the events of 2020 – WINNER
EASTENDERS – Gray kills Chantelle
GOGGLEBOX – Reactions to Boris Johnson’s press conference
NIGELLA’S COOK, EAT, REPEAT – Mee-cro-wah-vay
THE MANDALORIAN – Luke Skywalker arrives

Mingle
Latest posts by Mingle (see all)