Richard Ayoade and Steve Pemberton swear at Bafta TV Awards

Presenter Richard Ayoade and actor Steve Pemberton caused controversy at Sunday’s Bafta TV Awards by swearing before the 9pm watershed.

After a nervous Paul Mescal gave an acceptance speech for his Leading Actor victory, Ayoade jokingly called the Normal People star a “b******.”

Pemberton’s slip-up came as his anthology series Inside No. 9 won the Scripted Comedy category.

Referring to the surreal process of accepting the award over a video call from a sofa, Pemberton said: “This is like the c******* episode of Gogglebox.”

It was the second year the awards, broadcast on the BBC, took place mid-pandemic.