BAFTA TV Awards: Nominees speeches should centre on 'short anecdote or an interesting detail', not politics

Following Brexit and Donald Trump’s presidency, awards season was unsurprisingly dominated by politically motived speeches.

Bafta has asked nominees for this weekend’s television awards to keep their speeches focussed on anecdotes and interesting details, implying to stay away from politics.

“To engage our audience and include them in the story we would be delighted if winners could offer some insight into the winning programme by including a short anecdote or an interesting detail about the production,” Pruthvi Pandit, Bafta’s head of television, wrote in an email to nominees, according to The Guardian.

Sally Woodward Gentle — producer of Best Drama nominee ITV’s The Durrells — spoke to the publication about the email, saying: “I’ve no idea why they’ve asked for funny anecdotes other than to try to make the acceptance entertaining for the TV audience. Needless to say, I’m not preparing. I’ve only got anecdotes about pelicans. Can’t think what Happy Valley’s [the BBC crime drama] could be!”

Earlier this year, Bafta reportedly warned nominees at their film awards to not talk about politics, particularly Donald Trump. Last year’s BAFTA speeches were dominated by discussion of the government cutting funds to the BBC. Wolf Hall director Peter Kosminsky’s speech made headlines after criticising then-Culture Secretary John Whittingdale, while Mark Rylance also offered a warning to the government.

A spokesperson for Bafta said: “Bafta is an independent arts charity that supports talented individuals in achieving their full potential and occasions like this offer a fantastic opportunity for the very best in our industry to inspire the next generation.

“With that in mind, we hope the winners on Sunday would be happy to share an insight or two into the making of their Bafta-winning programmes or performances.”

The Crown leads nominees for the Bafta TV awards, while The Night Manager was resoundingly snubbed. Read the fill nominations list here.