The 2025 Bafta TV Awards was a night full of surprises, tears, and very large glittery trousers.
Traitors US presenter Alan Cumming made his hosting debut at the ceremony, with the red carpet rolled out for the stars of the small screen at London’s Royal Festival Hall on Sunday night.
The biggest prize of the ceremony – Best Drama – went to the Northern Ireland-set police drama Blue Lights.
Written by former journalists Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, the BBC series beat out tough competition from the Hilary Mantel adaptation Wolf Hall (the favourite to take home the honour), as well as Sherwood and Supacell.
Another surprise winner was Industry star Marisa Abela, whose intense turn as Yasmin in the third series of the high-octane BBC banker drama earned her the Leading Actress award. Abela was, arguably, competing in the strongest category of the night – up against Anna Maxwell Martin (who gave the performance of her career in true-crime drama Until I Kill You) and Monica Dolan (who was as terrific as ever in Mr Bates vs the Post Office), as well as Billie Piper (Scoop), Lola Petticrew (Say Nothing), and Sharon D Clarke (Mr Loverman).
Accepting her award, Abela, 28, thanked Industry writers Konrad Kay and Mickey Down, saying: “Yasmin changed my life.” The actor added that, even though her character started off just “carrying salads” into the office, the writers had allowed Yasmin to evolve. “You wrote with such excitement and ferociousness, and it allowed me to go for it, and I thank you so, so much for that,” she said.
The prize for Leading Actor, meanwhile, went to Lennie James for his role as a gay older man in the BBC’s Mr Loverman. The star – competing against the formidable roster of Gary Oldman (Slow Horses), David Tennant (Rivals), Martin Freeman (The Responder), Richard Gadd (Baby Reindeer) and Toby Jones (Mr Bates) – was not expecting to win and had not prepared a speech, but still managed to move the audience, tearfully telling his family: “You are the loves of my life. I’m nothing without you.”
Another big winner was Ruth Jones, who won Female Performance in a Comedy for Gavin & Stacey: The Finale. The BBC star did an impression of her beloved Welsh character Nessa in her speech, saying: “I’m not gonna lie, this is immense.”
Ruth Jones wins the Female in a Comedy Performance BAFTA for Gavin and Stacey: The Finale at the #BAFTATVAwards 🌹 pic.twitter.com/EzvQLfIcnt
— BAFTA (@BAFTA) May 11, 2025
Danny Dyer won Male Performance in a Comedy for his joyous role in Sky’s Mr Bigstuff, joking in his speech: “My acting was so bad, it was funny.” He also broke Bafta rules by swearing, when he said: “I f***ing done it!”
ITV’s Mr Bates vs the Post Office won Limited Drama, after becoming one of the most influential TV shows in history, shining a light on the plight of the subpostmasters affected by the Post Office Horizon scandal.
The show had already seen ITV win a special award for making the programme, and ITV managing director Kevin Lygo called for compensation for those wrongfully convicted, telling the government to “hurry up and pay these people”.
He also urged all TV corporations to continue making series that hold “power to account”.
Baby Reindeer, one of the most talked-about shows in recent memory, was not forgotten, as Jessica Gunning took home the Supporting Actress award for her role as stalker Martha, and creator and star Richard Gadd won the Bafta for Best Writer: Drama.
Many were surprised that BBC One’s smash hit psychological reality game show The Traitors did not take home a single award, with host Claudia Winkleman losing out in the Entertainment Performance contest to Joe Lycett, and other losses for the show in the Reality, Memorable Moment and Entertainment Craft Team categories.
As host, Cumming took a while to warm up, with a cringey Traitors-themed opener and an awkward early joke about “popping” his “Bafta cherry”.
Much better received was a skit he performed about the unspoken rules of Bafta, which he turned into a children’s storybook – “Becky won a Bafta. Becky forgot to thank the commissioner. Uh oh! Becky doesn’t make TV shows anymore.”
As the night went on, the laughs got bigger, and Cumming had numerous outfit changes throughout the evening, after starting out with some significantly flared, sparkling blue slacks that raised eyebrows among viewers.
The event also featured musical performances from Jessie Ware and Tom Grennan.
Elsewhere, tributes were paid to a number of TV actors who have died in the past year, including TV doctor and author Michael Moseley and Drag Race UK winner The Vivienne.
The full list of winners at this year’s TV Baftas can be found here.
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