Record haul for Sky at 2019 BAFTA TV Awards

Sunday 12 May 2019

Sky collected five BAFTAs at tonight’s British Academy Television Awards.

  • COMEDY ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMME
    A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN David Taylor, Jack Shillaker, Ish Kalia, Murray Boland – CPL Productions / Sky One
  • MINI-SERIES
    PATRICK MELROSE Production Team – Two Cities / SunnyMarch TV / Little Island Productions / Sky Atlantic
  • SCRIPTED COMEDY
    SALLY4EVER Production Team – Various Artists / Hush Ho Productions / Sky Atlantic
  • INTERNATIONAL
    SUCCESSION Production Team – HBO Entertainment / Project Zeus / Gary Sanchez Productions / Sky Atlantic
  • LEADING ACTOR
    BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH Patrick Melrose – Two Cities / SunnyMarch TV / Little Island Productions / Sky Atlantic

In a record haul for the company, Sky collected awards for three of its Sky originals. Benedict Cumberbatch triumphed in the leading actor category for Patrick Melrose; the Sky original drama also took home the BAFTA for Mini-Series.

The Sky original comedy Sally4Ever won the award for Scripted Comedy and A League of Their Own won for Comedy Entertainment programme.

The HBO drama Succession took home the International award, demonstrating Sky’s continuing commitment to bring its viewers the very best in US content.

At the ceremony, Sky Arts presenter and broadcaster Joan Bakewell was honoured with the BAFTA Fellowship.  Sky was also recognised at this year’s BAFTA Television Craft Awards last month, picking up two further awards for Patrick Melrose (Writer: Drama, David Nicholls; Production Design). These accolades together makes 2019 Sky’s most decorated year for BAFTA-winning content.

Zai Bennett, Director of Programmes, Sky UK and Ireland, said: “With five BAFTA awards it’s been a record year for Sky. Our success is testament to those in the creative industries whose storytelling we have helped nurture and support. I’d like to thank the British Academy for recognising excellence in our Sky originals and most importantly our viewers, whose appetite for series like Patrick Melrose, Sally4Ever and A League Of Their Own continues to go from strength to strength.”

Sky received 16 nominations for BAFTA awards in 2019 (six nominations for BAFTA Television Craft Awards and 10 nominations for the Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards) for shows including A League of Their Own, Britannia, Patrick Melrose, Sally4Ever, Save Me and Succession, as well as a nomination in the Sport category for Sky Sports Cricket.

This awards season has seen a record number of wins and nominations for Sky’s original content including three Royal Television Society Programme Awards (Arts, The Art of Drumming; Drama Series, Save Me; Writer - Drama, Lennie James for Save Me).

Sky continues to invest in the cultural economy of the UK and Ireland with the very best original content, spanning drama, comedy and entertainment. Highlights on screen in May include Chernobyl, a co-production with HBO, which in the last week has received five-star reviews from The Daily Telegraph, The Times and The Independent, amongst others. Viewers will also be able to catch Julia Stiles reprise her role as the glamourous Georgina Clios in the returning Sky original drama Riviera. Later this year viewers can look forward to Catherine the Great starring Helen Mirren, Temple starring Mark Strong, and comedy Brassic, written by and starring Joe Gilgun, as well as a second series of In the Long Run created by and starring Idris Elba.

ENDS


Notes to Editors

SKY’S RECORD NUMBER OF BAFTA TV NOMINATIONS

COMEDY ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMME
A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN David Taylor, Jack Shillaker, Ish Kalia, Murray Boland – CPL Productions / Sky One

DRAMA SERIES
SAVE ME Production Team – World Productions / Sky Atlantic

FEMALE PERFORMANCE IN A COMEDY PROGRAMME
JULIA DAVIS Sally4Ever – Various Artists / Hush Ho Productions / Sky Atlantic

INTERNATIONAL

SUCCESSION Production Team – HBO Entertainment / Project Zeus / Gary Sanchez Productions / Sky Atlantic

LEADING ACTOR
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH Patrick Melrose – Two Cities / SunnyMarch TV / Little Island Productions / Sky Atlantic

MALE PERFORMANCE IN A COMEDY PROGRAMME
ALEX MACQUEEN Sally4Ever – Various Artists / Hush Ho Productions / Sky Atlantic

MINI-SERIES
PATRICK MELROSE Production Team – Two Cities / SunnyMarch TV / Little Island Productions / Sky Atlantic

SCRIPTED COMEDY
SALLY4EVER Production Team – Various Artists / Hush Ho Productions / Sky Atlantic

SUPPORTING ACTOR
STEPHEN GRAHAM Save Me - World Productions / Sky Atlantic

THE BAFTA TELEVISION FELLOWSHIP
JOAN BAKEWELL awarded to the Journalist, broadcaster and current Sky Arts presenter.

SKY’S BAFTA CRAFT 2019 WINS

WRITER: DRAMA – WINNER DAVID NICHOLLS Patrick Melrose

PRODUCTION DESIGN – WINNER TOM BURTON Patrick Melrose

About Sky

With 23 million customers across seven countries, Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of the Comcast group.

We have 31,000 colleagues and together we want to connect our customers to more of what they love, including our award-winning original productions, like Patrick Melrose and Save Me, and great shows from our partners including HBO, Showtime and Warner Bros. And our ever-improving technology makes it even easier for customers to watch more of the shows they love with personalised recommendations and voice control and, our online streaming service, NOW TV, brings all the enjoyment of Sky with the flexibility of a contract free service.

We treat our customers better than anyone else in our field, as Ofcom’s complaints data shows, and we look after our staff too. Sky is one of The Times Top 50 employers for women and we’re in Stonewall’s list of Top 50 LGBT-Inclusive employers.

We also use our position as the leading entertainment business in Europe to do the right thing. As part of Sky Ocean Rescue campaign, we’re committing to be completely single-use plastic free by 2020, we’re investing £25million over five years in ocean-saving tech and we’re supporting the WWF to protect our oceans with designated Marine Protected Areas.