For a celebration of all that's supposedly best in British television, this year's telly-BAFTAs felt mysteriously flat and anticlimactic. Even perennial host Graham Norton seemed less fleet of foot than usual, though he did manage one caustic barb about the plank-like acting skills of Downton Abbey's Lady Mary. Perhaps he was distracted by his own dual nominations (he won for Entertainment Programme). The ejector seat from his chat show might have been the perfect accoutrement to add a bit of adrenalin to the occasion.
An ominous early omen was the win for the tepid Last Tango in Halifax in the Drama Series category (where it pipped Ripper Street, Scott & Bailey and Silk), while Radio Times's cover story promoting the all-round wonderfulness of Olivia Colman proved uncannily prescient, as the actress picked up the Supporting Actress award for her work in Jimmy McGovern's Accused and the Female Performance in a Comedy Programme accolade for Olympics spoof Twenty Twelve (Colman with Hugh Bonneville in Twenty Twelve, pictured below).
Perhaps the problem was that there weren't many programmes among the nominations that felt as if they were surfing a broad tide of support (blame it on 21st century media fragmentation, or alternatively on networks not making the right kind of programmes). Even the ones that did tended not to win - the only mention for the massively popular Call the Midwife was in the Radio Times Audience Award, which is voted for by the public, but that gong went to the HBO/Sky Atlantic show Game of Thrones. Apparently this is the only category apart from International where overseas shows are eligible, and Homeland got a mention in both.
Meanwhile Richard Cottan's gangsters-and-dementia drama The Fear got a couple of unsuccessful supporting actor nominations, when it was Peter Mullan's lead performance that surely demanded recognition. Conversely, there was evidently a sense that the excellent Sheridan Smith deserved something, but whether the Leading Actress statuette for ITV's Mrs Biggs was the thing in question must remain moot.
But awards is awards, a strange universe where politics and perverse illogic inevitably have their parts to play. Whether it's Eastenders, Corrie or Emmerdale that wins Soap and Continuing Drama is surely a Buggin's Turn issue ('stenders got it this time), while the only way it's possible to manoeuvre Made in Chelsea into an award-winning situation is by inventing the absurdist niche entitled "Reality and Constructive Factual".
The evening brought both triumph and disaster for BBC Two. The channel failed to collect any awards for Parade's End or the Alfred Hitchcock one-off The Girl, despite multiple nominations for both, while the now-scrapped The Hour was also a no-show. However, there was good news in the Leading Actor category, where an astounded Ben Whishaw deservedly won for his performance as Richard II in Two's Shakespearean season The Hollow Crown. It was also nice to see Simon Russell Beale collecting Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Falstaff in the Henry IV plays, even if he arguably wasn't ideal for the role. BBC Two comedy went home with a smile on its face after Twenty Twelve won in the Sitcom bracket.
Special features included a tribute to 50 years of Doctor Who and Michael Palin being awarded the BAFTA fellowship, the latter's acceptance speech managing to rise above the gibbering incoherence on display elsewhere. Artsdesk rating: Not a classic.
