BAFTAs 2018: BBC's Peaky Blinders, Molly Windsor of Three Girls, Sean Bean of Broken win top honours

BAFTAs held on Sunday, 13 May at Royal Festival Hall in London saw a refreshing mix of award winners from obvious favourites to surprise selections. The show was hosted by British comedian Sue Perkins.

Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy and Helen McCory-starrer crime drama set in 1919 Birmingham, Peaky Blinders won the Best Drama Series Award. The BBC TV show beat Netflix’s The Crown, Channel 4’s End of the F***ing World and BBC One’s Line of Duty. Despite bagging the most prestigious award of the night, Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight expressed dismay over the lack of nominations for its cast.

While The Crown missed out on the Best Drama Series for the second consecutive year, lead actress Claire Foy also faced another disappointment when she was overlooked for the second time and the Leading Actress award went to Molly Windsor from BBC One’s Three Girls.  Three Girls is a three-part drama miniseries based on the true stories of sexual exploitation of girls in Rochdale, England. While accepting the award, 20-year-old Windsor gave a shoutout to the real victims “Three Girls was born out of the courage of the real three girls and the real Holly, Amber and Ruby that told this story over and over and over”. The series also won the award in Mini Series Category.

Sean Bean, who plays the role of maverick catholic priest Father Michael Kerrigan in BBC One’s Broken, won the award in the Leading Actor Category making it the actor’s first BAFTA win. Andy Brereton and Avril Spary’s improvisational sitcom Murder in Successville won the best Comedy and Comedy Entertainment Program award. The BBC Three show is set in surreal Successville, a town with high celebrity homicide count where Detective Di Sleet (Tom Davis) hilariously tries to solve these high profile murders. Irish actor Brian F O’Byrne  who plays the father of murdered school boy Rhys Jone in ITV’s true crime drama Little Boy Blue won the award in the Supporting Actor category. The Tony Award-winning actor dedicated his BAFTA award to the little boy who abruptly lost his life at 11 years of age.

While The Crown got only 3 nominations compared to 5 from previous year, Vanessa Kirby’s award as the Best Supporting Actress saved the show from another dry run this year. Kirby, who plays Princess Margaret, said she was fortunate to get the chance to play “somebody that was so colorful and vivid and brave and strong”.

Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, starring Elizabeth Moss, won the the BAFTA for the Best International Series. It was up against popular heavyweights like HBO’s Big Little Lies, FX’s Feud: Bette and Joan and PBS documentary series The Vietnam War. BBC Three’s mockumentary show This Country bagged the award for the Best Scripted Comedy and its lead Daisy May Cooper won in the Female in a Comedy Programme category. In the male category, Toby Jones from BBC Four’s Detectorists claimed the award. Graham Norton won the Best Entertainment Performance for his The Graham Norton Show (BBC One). Britain’s Got Talent, which is currently in its 12th season, won the BAFTA for Entertainment Programme and BBC’s Casualty triumphed in the Soap and Continuing Drama category. The complete list of winners: Drama series Peaky Blinders (BBC) Leading actress Molly Windsor – Three Girls (BBC One) Leading Actor Sean Bean – Broken (BBC) Comedy and comedy entertainment programme Murder In Successville (BBC Three) Sport The Grand National International The Handmaid’s Tale News coverage The Rohingya Crisis Current affairs Undercover: Britain’s Immigration Secrets – Panorama Supporting actor Brian F O’Byrne – Little Boy Blue Mini-series Three Girls Reality and constructed factual  Love Island Supporting actress Vanessa Kirby- The Crown Specialist factual Basquiat: Rage to Riches Factual series Ambulance Single drama Murdered For Being Different Scripted comedy This Country Entertainment performance Graham Norton - The Graham Norton Show Male performance in a comedy programme Toby Jones – Detectorists Female performance in a comedy programme Daisy May Cooper- This Country Single documentary Being Mum and Dad Entertainment programme Britain’s Got Talent Soap and continuing drama Casualty Short-form programme Morgana Robinson’s Summer (Also read: Anupam Kher is unarguably India's most successful crossover actor with BAFTA nod, Netflix show, rich filmography)