Obscure Aged Brit Actor Quits BAFTA Over Awards

[Mark Jeffries]

While most of the controversy over this year's BAFTA awards (seen in the U.S. on BritBox) was another instance of #BAFTASoWhite when it came to the winners, 69-year-old Phil Davis, an actor with several notable credits but nothing that stands out, sent an angry tweet stating that because of host RIchard E. Grant making his entrance in the Batmobile, the recorded telecast (only the four major categories were presented live) edited the acceptance speeches for backstage what Davis called "non-interviews" conducted by co-host Alison Hammond, a former UK version of "Big Brother" contestant, and leaving veteran comic actor Bernard Cribbins (best known by contemporary audiences for his appearances on "Doctor Who") out of the necrology, he was dropping his BAFTA membership.  Whippy dippy:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/bafta-awards-resign-phil-davis-doctor-who-1235332335/

BAFTA's response was that Mr. Cribbins, considered more a television star than a movie star, would be in the necrology at the television awards in May.  It should be pointed out that Davis spelled Mr. Cribbins' name as "Cribbens."  And could it possibly be that Davis' objections to Hammond, who he did not bother to mention by name, could be because she's Black?   And did he have any objections to white radio DJ Edith Bowman's butt-kissing interviews on past BAFTA telecasts?

[Adam Bowie]

I'm going support Phil Davis on this one. 

I didn't watch all the BAFTAs but watched enough to know that even though they shook it up this year, and finally, well into an age of socal media, presented at least some of the awards live on TV, the awards were another mess this year. 

Davis didn't like the Alison Hammond interviews that broke up the awards, and frankly neither did I. 

I don't believe that has anything to do with Hammond's race (and I would need to see proof to the contrary otherwise that's an unfair suggestion), or her ability to conduct such interviews, and more that it was completely out of context with the rest of the show. Hammond is fine as a TV presenter and I like her in some things. Her day job tends to be as a regular stand-in on ITV's This Morning, but she's good as a panellist on This Is My House (surely due a US version at some point). She's generally very likeable. The problem here is that she conducted fluffy and out of place interviews that to the viewer looked like they were depriving the award winners of airtime. Kind of like cutting the halftime pundits in coverage of a sports event, but doing it while the match is still underway.

That meant that many award winners had their speeches massively cut short in the TV broadcast version that aired. Essentially the show tried to boil down a 3-3.5 hour live show into 1.5 hours of near-live TV plus a final 30 minutes live. And they still found room for those interviews.

Everyone is trying to work out what an awards show looks like in 2023. Film award shows in particular struggle because the "good" films that actually win the awards are no longer the kind of films that big audiences have actually seen. Producers like to break up the handing out of gongs with *something* else to keep viewers watching - be it big name singers performing, comedy skits or whatever. This year the BAFTAs tried the mid-show interview slots and it just felt like we were being taken away from the main show. 

Davis has a pretty strong resumé - everything from Quadrophenia to Apple's Slow Horses. He's not a star, but he's appeared in dozens of British TV shows and films, so I do think his concerns count. He's won a TV Bafta and he's directed a few films and TV including Prime Suspect. He's no no-one.

Yes - he was perhaps wrong about Bernard Cribbins, who I've no doubt will get mentioned in the TV awards, although he did also appear in *dozens* of films, especially earlier in his career. So it's definitely understandable why some felt he should have been mentioned. Davis may know Cribbins via Doctor Who as although they didn't appear in an episode together, Davis played a character during the period that Cribbins showed up as Catherine Tate's character's grandfather.

Adam

Adam

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[Mark Jeffries]

I plead ignorance, sir.  Thank you for setting things straight, especially since I didn't see the telecast because I don't subscribe to BritBox.

Mark Jeffries
spotl...@gmail.com

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