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 (11 May).
The biggest gong of the ceremony – Best Drama – went to Northern Ireland-set police drama Blue Lights.
Written by former journalists Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, the BBC series beat out tough competition from Hilary Mantel adaptation Wolf Hall (which was the favourite to take home the prize), 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 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 – who was 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 of the night 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.”
And 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, winning justice for many of the subpostmasters affected by the Post Office scandal. Baby Reindeer, one of the most talked-about shows in recent memory, saw Jessica Gunning triumph when she took home the Supporting Actress prize for her role as stalker Martha.
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Many viewers were surprised that BBC smash hit The Traitors did not take home a single award, with host Claudia Winkleman losing out on Entertainment Performance 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 night 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.
