UK

Bafta TV award winners say they are ‘honoured’ and ‘delighted’ to secure victory

Sir Mo Farah and his wife Tania, with the award for Single Documentary, for The Real Mo Farah, at the Bafta Television Awards 2023 (Jeff Moore/PA)
Sir Mo Farah and his wife Tania, with the award for Single Documentary, for The Real Mo Farah, at the Bafta Television Awards 2023 (Jeff Moore/PA)

Bafta TV award winners have shared their delight after securing victory, with Olympian Sir Mo Farah hoping that his victory will offer solace to victims of human trafficking.

The Bafta TV awards took place on Sunday at the Royal Festival Hall, with trophies up for grabs across different categories, including single documentary and single drama.

Winner of the single documentary category, Sir Mo spoke to reporters after the ceremony, and said that he was “honoured and delighted” to have won.

Bafta Television Awards 2023
Sir Mo Farah and his wife Tania, with the award for Single Documentary, for The Real Mo Farah, at the Bafta Television Awards 2023 (Jeff Moore/PA)

“We’re honoured and delighted to receive this award tonight because as a kid all I wanted to do was have my own space and go out there and run,” he said.

He added that, if it was not for his wife Tania and children, he would not have been able to do the commentary, and had to stop three times because it was difficult to film such a personal project.

His wife Tania Nell said she knew it was something that “weighed” on him over the years and when she found out the story, there had to be a day he “just had to release it”.

“I knew that for the sake of our children, and Mo more importantly, he had to release this story he had been holding onto for so long.”

He added that he wanted to show other victims of human trafficking that they are not alone.

Claudia Winkleman joked that she “loves a fingerless glove” when discussing her win with reporters.

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Claudia Winkleman who accepted the award for Reality & Constructed Factual, for The Traitors at the Bafta Television Awards 2023 (Jeff Moore/PA)

Winkleman, who accepted the award for the reality and constructed factual category for The Traitors, said: “You tell yourself of course I’m not (going to win) and then they say your name.”

When asked what she would say to aspiring contestants on The Traitors, she said: “What I would want to say to them is you think you know how to win, good luck with that.”

She added: “We were incredibly lucky, we had an extraordinary cast.”

Channel 4’s I am Ruth, which explores the relationship young people have with technology, won in the single drama category at the Bafta TV awards.

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Kate Winslet with the awards for Leading Actress and Single Drama, I Am Ruth, at the Bafta Television Awards 2023 (Jeff Moore/PA)

Hollywood actress and one of the show’s writers Kate Winslet said of the win: “It’s still a huge award… these moments don’t get old for me at all and I honestly didn’t think we would win.”

The star, who also won the best actress award for her role in the film, added: “The reason we wanted to make this film is because we wanted to create something that makes me say, that’s me… like Ruth does, and like Freya does.”

Winslet starred in the film alongside her daughter Mia Threapleton, earlier saying in the ceremony that she wished she could “break (the award) in half”.

“I would give the other half to my daughter Mia Threapleton, we did this together, kiddo.”

Meera Syal, the winner of the Bafta Fellowship award, said she just “sort of raced through” her acceptance speech.

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Meera Syal with the Bafta Fellowship award at the Bafta Television Awards 2023 (Jeff Moore/PA)

She added: “I love the fact that there is a mentoring role that comes with this.”

She said that the advice she would pass on to a mentee is that it is a “marathon and not a sprint”.

“I would say ‘find your tribe because you are stronger together’.”

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Lenny Rush with the award for Male Performance in a Comedy Programme (Jeff Moore/PA)

Lenny Rush, who won the award in the male performance in a comedy programme category for the BBC show Am I Being Unreasonable?, told reporters after the ceremony: “I’ve still not processed it.

“I’m over the moon.

“Daisy (May Cooper)’s the best… the whole crew are amazing, they’re like one big family.”

He added that he has eight little shelves above his “telly” and will place the award “right in the middle”.

The six-part British comedy-thriller series, which is on BBC iPlayer, is about “obsessive friendship, maternal paranoia – and a dead cat”.