SEX-SOAKED shows triumphed at the Baftas — with the steamiest TV programmes taking home multiple gongs.
Paul Mescal, 25, was teary and shaking as he accepted the Best Male Actor award for his role in racy BBC Three love story Normal People.
But the woman who played his young lover in the drama, Daisy Edgar-Jones, 23, lost out in the Best Female Actor category to Michaela Coel, 33.
She portrayed a woman navigating modern sexuality in BBC Three’s I May Destroy You, which also scooped the Best Mini-Series honour.
That drama contained so many sex scenes Michaela dedicated the award to intimacy co-ordinator Rita O’Brien.
She said: “Thank you for your existence in our industry, for making the space safe, for creating physical, emotional and professional boundaries.”
Aimee Lou Wood, 26, won Best Female performance in a comedy programme for playing Aimee Gibbs in Netflix comedy drama Sex Education.
She admitted she was “spaced out and shocked” by her success, sparking fits of laughter in the star-studded attendees at the Virgin Media-sponsored event at Television Centre in West London.
But the audience was sparse, with Covid restrictions meaning they were seated far apart.
They also had to wear masks throughout the ceremony.
Though it was an improvement on last year’s entirely virtual ceremony hosted by Richard Ayoade, 44, it still lacked much of the glamour of pre-pandemic Baftas.
Richard was back as frontman this year and joked: “In just two weeks, the national lockdown may be lifted, but why wait till then to have this show? I like things with no atmosphere.”
The line-up of guest award presenters — including Oti Mabuse, Line of Duty’s Adrian Dunbar and pop singer Olly Alexander — added some much-needed stardust.
But it was a disappointing night for the Small Axe collection of dramas, which only won one gong despite receiving six nominations.
That went to Malachi Kirby, 31, named Best Supporting Actor for playing broadcaster Darcus Howe in the film Mangrove.
Romesh Ranganathan, 43, collected the Best Entertainment Performance award for The Ranganation.
There was controversy over the new Daytime category, which included few major daytime programmes other than ITV quiz show, The Chase.
The winner was Channel 4’s The Great House Giveaway.
ASHLEY Banjo gave a passionate speech as Diversity’s highly-controversial Black Lives Matters performance on Britain’s Got Talent was voted Bafta’s Must-See moment of the past year.
Some 25,000 complained to Ofcom about the routine, but thousands also voted for the award, which the stand-in BGT judge accepted yesterday alongside his younger brother Jordan Banjo, 28.
Ashley, 32, said: “Thank you to everyone that stood by us. Being in the storm of complaints, just intolerance, racially charged abuse, threats, all of it.
“It was a dark time, but that support made the difference. Standing here right now, this represents the majority.”
Martin Frizell, boss of This Morning, claimed the Bafta judges “had no knowledge of what it took to produce hundreds of hours of live TV through a pandemic”.
There was even more surprise over the result in the Entertainment Programme category, with the award going to Sky Arts “spoken word poetry show” Life & Rhymes.
Other high profile shows with several nominations but no wins included Netflix’s The Crown and Sky One’s I Hate Suzie with Billie Piper.
