Entertainment

Cuba Gooding Jr overwhelmed to be 'accepting gold' at Bafta TV Awards

The actor hopes his show shone a light on what happened to OJ Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman.
The actor hopes his show shone a light on what happened to OJ Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman. The actor hopes his show shone a light on what happened to OJ Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman.

Cuba Gooding Jr said he could “kiss every person in this room” after The People V OJ Simpson: American Crime Story won a Bafta TV Award.

The drama about the trial and acquittal of the former American football star for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman won the international prize at the Bafta TV Awards.

The trophy was collected by Cuba, who played the disgraced athlete.

He said: “I’m a boy from the hood who flew over to London and now I’m on the stage accepting gold. I want to literally kiss every person in this room.”

Cuba Gooding Jr
Cuba Gooding Jr
Cuba Gooding Jr (Matt Crossick/PA)

He added: “What happened to those two people was a tragedy and I hope we shined a little light on that.”

The factual series prize was won by Exodus: Our Journey To Europe while the prize for news coverage was taken by Victoria Derbyshire: Footballers’ Abuse.

Collecting the prize, Victoria said: “This was an interview I did with four men, former footballers who trusted us enough to talk to our audience about the alleged abuse they received as boys.

“You cannot underestimate the courage it took for them to do that on national television live. As a result of what they did, hundreds of other potential victims came forward to the police.”

The live event prize was won by The Queen’s 90th Birthday Celebration on ITV, which was collected by hosts Ant and Dec, who joked they would take it to the Queen on Monday.

Nature series Planet Earth II won the specialist factual Bafta, although narrator Sir David Attenborough did not join the production team to collect the prize.The snakes vs iguana chase on Planet Earth II was crowned Virgin TV’s must-see moment.The female performance in a comedy programme gong was taken by Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge, beating her co-star Olivia Colman.The mini series prize was taken by National Treasure, a drama inspired by Operation Yewtree, while documentarian Nick Fraser was presented with the Bafta special award for his 20 years as editor of the BBC’s Storyville documentary strand.

Nick, who suffered a stroke earlier this year, stood next to his daughter Isabelle as she read out his speech.

Steve Coogan won the male performance in a comedy programme trophy for Alan Partridge’s Scissored Isle, but was not present to collect it.

The reality and constructed factual prize was won by Muslims Like Us, while the comedy and comedy entertainment programme gong was taken by Charlie Brooker’s 2016 Wipe.Picking up the prize, Charlie said: “2016 was a pretty horrible year I thought, so to receive an award for commemorating it is like getting a prize for doing a really accurate painting of a haemorrhoid.”

Tom Hollander won the Bafta for best supporting actor for his role in The Night Manager, defeating The Crown stars Jared Harris and John Lithgow and Line Of Duty’s Daniel Mays, while Emmerdale was named best soap and continuing drama.