And the BAFTA goes to...

Music

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Alexandre Desplat

THE DARK KNIGHT – Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard

MAMMA MIA! – Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – A. R. Rahman

WALL•E – Thomas Newman

Sound

CHANGELING – Walt Martin, Alan Robert Murray, John Reitz, Gregg Rudlof

THE DARK KNIGHT – Lora Hirschberg, Richard King, Ed Novick, Gary Rizzo

QUANTUM OF SOLACE – Jimmy Boyle, Eddy Joseph, Chris Munro, Mike Prestwood Smith, Mark Taylor

SLUMDOG MILLIONARE – Glenn Freemantle, Resul Pookutty, Richard Pryke, Tom Sayers, Ian Tapp

WALL•E – Ben Burtt, Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, Matthew Wood

Production Design

CHANGELING – James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo

THE DARK KNIGHT – Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando

REVOLUTIONARY ROAD – Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Mark Digby, Michelle Day

Make Up & Hair

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Jean Black, Colleen Callaghan

THE DARK KNIGHT – Peter Robb-King

THE DUCHESS – Daniel Phillips, Jan Archibald

FROST/NIXON – Edouard Henriques, Kim Santantonio

MILK – Steven E. Anderson, Michael White

Cinematography

CHANGELING – Tom Stern

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Claudio Miranda

THE DARK KNIGHT – Wally Pfister

THE READER – Chris Menges, Roger Deakins

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Anthony Dod Mantle

Best Adapted Screenplay

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Eric Roth

FROST/NIXON – Peter Morgan

THE READER – David Hare

REVOLUTIONARY ROAD – Justin Haythe

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Simon Beaufoy

The Carl Foreman Award

(for Special Achievement by a British Director, Writer or Producer for their First Feature Film)

SIMON CHINN (Producer) – Man On Wire

JUDY CRAYMER (Producer) – Mamma Mia!

GARTH JENNINGS (Writer) – Son of Rambow

STEVE McQUEEN (Director/Writer) – Hunger

SOLON PAPADOPOULOS, ROY BOULTER (Producers) – Of Time And The City

Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema

PINEWOOD STUDIOS AND SHEPPERTON STUDIOS

Original Screenplay

BURN AFTER READING – Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

CHANGELING – Joe Michael Straczynski

I’VE LOVED YOU SO LONG – Philippe Claudel

IN BRUGES – Martin McDonagh

MILK – Dustin Lance Black

Costume Design

CHANGELING – Deborah Hopper

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Jacqueline West

THE DARK KNIGHT – Lindy Hemming

THE DUCHESS – Michael O'Connor

REVOLUTIONARY ROAD – Albert Wolsky

Film Not in the English Language

THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX – Bernd Eichinger, Uli Edel

GOMORRAH – Domenico Procacci, Matteo Garrone

I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG – Yves Marmion, Philippe Claudel

PERSEPOLIS – Marc-Antoine Robert, Xavier Rigault, Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud

WALTZ WITH BASHIR – Serge Lalou, Gerhard Meixner, Yael Nahlieli, Ari Folman

Outstanding British Film

MAN ON WIRE – Simon Chinn, James Marsh

HUNGER – Laura Hastings-Smith, Robin Gutch, Steve McQueen, Enda Walsh

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Christian Colson, Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy

MAMMA MIA! – Judy Craymer, Gary Goetzman, Phyllida Lloyd, Catherine Johnson

IN BRUGES – Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Martin McDonagh

Supporting Actress

AMY ADAMS – Doubt

PENÉLOPE CRUZ – Vicky Cristina Barcelona

FREIDA PINTO – Slumdog Millionaire

TILDA SWINTON – Burn After Reading

MARISA TOMEI – The Wrestler

Special Visual Effects

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Eric Barba, Craig Barron, Nathan McGuinness, Edson Williams

THE DARK KNIGHT – Chris Corbould, Nick Davis, Paul Franklin, Tim Webber

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL – Pablo Helman, Marshall Krasser, Steve Rawlins

IRON MAN – Hal Hickel, Shane Patrick Mahan, John Nelson, Ben Snow

QUANTUM OF SOLACE – Chris Corbould, Kevin Tod Haug

Supporting Actor

ROBERT DOWNEY JR. – Tropic Thunder

BRENDAN GLEESON – In Bruges

PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN – Doubt

HEATH LEDGER – The Dark Knight

BRAD PITT – Burn After Reading

Orange Rising Star Award

MICHAEL FASSBENDER

TOBY KEBBELL

REBECCA HALL

NOEL CLARKE

MICHAEL CERA

Director

FROST/NIXON – Ron Howard

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – David Fincher

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Danny Boyle

THE READER – Stephen Daldry

CHANGELING – Clint Eastwood

Leading Actress

ANGELINA JOLIE – Changeling

KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS – I’ve Loved You So Long

MERYL STREEP – Doubt

KATE WINSLET – The Reader

KATE WINSLET – Revolutionary Road

Leading Actor

FRANK LANGELLA – Frost/Nixon

BRAD PITT – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

DEV PATEL – Slumdog Millionaire

MICKEY ROURKE – The Wrestler

SEAN PENN – Milk

Best Film

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Ceán Chaffin

FROST/NIXON – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard

MILK – Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen

THE READER – Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Donna Gigliotti, Redmond Morris

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Christian Colson

Short Film

KINGSLAND #1 THE DREAMER – Kate Ogborn, Tony Grisoni

LOVE YOU MORE – Caroline Harvey, Anthony Minghella, Sam Taylor-Wood, Patrick Marber

RALPH – Olivier Kaempfer, Alex Winckler

SEPTEMBER – Stewart le Maréchal, Esther May Campbell

VOYAGE D’AFFAIRES (THE BUSINESS TRIP) – Celine Quideau, Sean Ellis

Short Animation

CODSWALLOP – Greg McLeod, Myles McLeod

VARMINTS – Sue Goffe, Marc Craste

WALLACE AND GROMIT: A MATTER OF LOAF AND DEATH – Steve Pegram, Nick Park, Bob Baker

Editing (six nominations due to voting tie)

CHANGELING – Joel Cox, Gary D. Roach

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall

THE DARK KNIGHT – Lee Smith

FROST/NIXON – Mike Hill, Dan Hanley

IN BRUGES – Jon Gregory

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE – Chris Dickens

Animated Film

PERSEPOLIS – Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud

WALL•E – Andrew Stanton

WALTZ WITH BASHIR – Ari Folman

Academy Fellowship

TERRY GILLIAM

Plugs and Points

Hello little ones.  Been a bit busy again, but all is fine in love and war.

Earlier in the week, I was delighted to bask in Potdoll's reflected glory when I went to see her stunning short film which was playing with three others at BAFTA.  Although I have seen many incarnations of the film over the past six months or so, it was fantastic to see it all 'done' and meet the team.  It was a truly superb piece.  Well done, Potters! The other three films were also very strong, and I was totally amazed at how different they all looked, felt, sounded etc. Having now embarked on the Digital Shorts scheme myself, seeing as many of last years' shorts has been an important task for me and I really enjoyed my evening at BAFTA.  In fact, it was such an extremely interesting night that I ended up *just* catching the last tube home - which is always a great relief, as cabs tend to charge me in the region of £70 to come back to Tenacious Towers, which is a total nonsense for living two whole miles out of 'London'. The cabbies obviously see the Turrets from a distance and add on a few tenners.  B*stards.

The following night saw me back at BAFTA again - this time to hear a talk by Panavision on their new Genesis camera which, taking into account it's capabilities, just totally blew me away.  I never thought I would ever, ever get excited about the difference in a true 4:4:4 RGB array to a standard Bayer pattern, but there I was gasping with glee at the end result.  Urgh.  I can hear my physics master snarling, "Told you so..." in the back of my head now...pr*ck.

I managed to come away from both evenings clutching a vast array of business cards from designers through to post production facilities, all showing varying amounts of interest in my short, which is always a nice thing.  

The latest version of the short screenplay (which may be undergoing a name change soon) was sent off to my Script Editor and should have greeted him upon his return from holiday, and so I am just finishing my novel edit before I start throwing that at people to read and he throws my screenplay back at me.  I managed to write a lot of notes for a new feature too, but I want to leave those to fester for a bit.

On a more "must mention that" note, I just watched the trailer to "Faintheart", penned by the tremendously talented, David Lemon. It will be showing at loads of cinemas country-wide on Tuesday 27th Jan, so get yourself over to David's blog where he lists all the locations and then go see his film.  You have been warned.

Also a shout out to those of you who are music lovers and like to be ahead of the game with regard to new bands etc. Tim Shaw on Absolute Radio has been running a "let an unsigned band play on radio" type comp, and I am thrilled to say my cousin's band, Cameron James and Tim Nash, is top of the leaderboard at the moment.  Damn right, too! Cameron is an extremely talented singer, writer and guitarist and they both have a beautiful folk-rock sound.  You can hear their radio stuff here and vote for them here.  And whilst I am in the plugging mood...my other cousin's band, Short Warning, are currently on tour if you fancy catching a bit of the harder rock stuff...

Make cheques payable to me. I thank you.

Onwards.

BAFTA Television Awards - Part 3

Another sterling quote from last night's BAFTAs.

"All that matters is the script, the script, the script" Sita Williams, Exec Producer "The Street" - Winner of Drama Series, British Academy TV Awards 2007

This morning, I received an email from "A Friend" informing me that my previous post containing the BAFTA winners was ever so slightly anal as I probably had all the results up before BAFTA did.

And?

I like the awards ceremonies, y'see, and I find they are always worthwhile attending - not to mention the laughs to be had at the 'aftershow' parties! I normally do try and get to both the Film and TV BAFTAs but bailed on both occasions this year - last night's, because I couldn't find a pretty enough tent to swathe myself in. Hey ho, there's always next year, and if I am lucky I'll make one of them without baby puke down my frock.


That is, of course, if I ever manage to get into a nice outfit again - after 6,000 complaints, Mars have withdrawn their intention to use rennet in their chocolate and ice cream and so will remain vegetarian. I was really relying on their use of rennet to put me off eating their products thus helping me battle the post baby bits.


Ah, well, I have a little while before I need to think about renting a perma-space in the gym.

BAFTA Television Awards - Part Deux

Well, quite a mixed bag this year, I thought, but well done to the Nominees and Winners all the same. I was a bit surprised 'Life on Mars' didn't manage to pick up more awards but it did win the public's vote and was up against stiff competition in all categories.

Special well done mention to Victoria Wood for her two awards for 'Housewife 49' (Best Actress & Single Drama) and Jim Broadbent (Best Actor) for his fab portrayal of Lord Longford in 'Longford'.

I am sure it'll be all over the place but here are all the runners, riders and winners:

Actor
JIM BROADBENT - Longford (Channel 4)
ANDY SERKIS - Longford (Channel 4)
MICHAEL SHEEN - Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa! (BBC Four)
JOHN SIMM - Life On Mars (BBC One)

Actress
ANNE-MARIE DUFF - The Virgin Queen (BBC One)
SAMANTHA MORTON - Longford (Channel 4)
RUTH WILSON - Jane Eyre (BBC One)
VICTORIA WOOD - Housewife 49 (ITV1)

ENTERTAINMENT PERFORMANCE
ANTHONY MCPARTLIN & DECLAN DONNELLY - Saturday Night Takeaway (ITV1)STEPHEN FRY - QI (BBC Two)
PAUL MERTON - Have I Got News For You (BBC One)
JONATHAN ROSS - Friday Night With Jonathan Ross (BBC One)

COMEDY PERFORMANCE
DAWN FRENCH - The Vicar Of Dibley (BBC One)
RICKY GERVAIS - Extras (BBC Two)
STEPHEN MERCHANT - Extras (BBC Two)
LIZ SMITH - The Royle Family: Queen Of Sheba (BBC One)

SINGLE DRAMA
HOUSEWIFE 49 - Victoria Wood, Piers Wenger, Gavin Millar, David Threlfall (ITV Productions/ITV1)
KENNETH WILLIAMS: FANTABULOSA! - Andy de Emmony, Ben Evans, Martyn Hesford (BBC Drama/BBC Four)
LONGFORD - Peter Morgan, Tom Hooper, Helen Flint, Andy Harries (Granada Productions for C4 in assoc. with HBO/C4)
THE ROAD TO GUANTANAMO - Michael Winterbottom, Mat Whitecross (Revolution Films/C4)

DRAMA SERIES
LIFE ON MARS - Production Team (Kudos Film & Television/BBC One)
SHAMELESS - Production Team (Company Pictures/C4)
SUGAR RUSH - Production Team (Shine Productions/C4)
THE STREET - Jimmy McGovern, Sita Williams, David Blair, Ken Horn (Granada Productions/BBC One)

DRAMA SERIAL
LOW WINTER SUN - Greg Brenman, Adrian Shergold, Simon Donald, Rhonda Smith (Tiger Aspect Productions/C4)
PRIME SUSPECT: THE FINAL ACT - Andrew Benson, Philip Martin, Frank Deasy, Andy Harries (ITV Productions/ITV1)
SEE NO EVIL: THE MOORS MURDERS - Lisa Gilchrist, Neil McKay, Jeff Pope, Chris Menaul (ITV Productions/ITV1)
THE VIRGIN QUEEN - Coky Giedroyc, Paula Milne, Paul Rutman (A BBC Drama/Power co-production/BBC One)

CONTINUING DRAMA
CASUALTY - Production Team (BBC/BBC One)
CORONATION STREET - Stephen Russell, Tim O'Mara, Steve Frost, Kieran Roberts (ITV Productions/ITV1)
EASTENDERS - Production Team (BBC Drama Production Studios/BBC One)
EMMERDALE - Keith Richardson, Kathleen Beedles, Lindsay Williams, Piotr Szkopiak (ITV Productions/ITV1)

FACTUAL SERIES
ROSS KEMP ON GANGS - Clive Tulloh, Amelia Hann, Ross Kemp (Tiger Aspect Productions/Sky One)
STEPHEN FRY - THE SECRET LIFE OF THE MANIC DEPRESSIVE - Production Team (IWC Media, part of the RDF Media Group/BBC Two)
TRIBE - James Smith, Steve Robinson, Bruce Parry, Sam Organ (BBC/BBC Two)
WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? - Alex Graham, Lucy Carter (Wall To Wall/BBC Two)

SPECIALIST FACTUAL
MUNICH: MOSSAD'S REVENGE - Anthony Geffen, Tom Whitter, Peter Miller, Calum Walker (Atlantic Productions Ltd/C4)
NUREMBERG: GOERING'S LAST STAND - Peter Nicholson, Simon Berthon, Dan Korn, Piers Vellacott (3BM Television/C4)
PLANET EARTH - Alistair Fothergill, Mark Linfield (BBC/BBC One)
SIMON SCHAMA'S POWER OF ART - Clare Beavan, Simon Schama, Basil Comely, Mark Harrison (BBC London Arts/BBC Two)

SINGLE DOCUMENTARY
BREAKING UP WITH THE JONESES - Ursula Macfarlane, Saskia Wilson, Dave Nath, Gregor Lyon (betty/C4)
EVICTED - Brian Woods, Deborah Shipley, Jeremy Wales, Katy Sheppard (True Vision/BBC One)
9/11: THE FALLING MAN - Henry Singer, John Smithson, Sue Bourne, Julian Ware (Darlow Smithson Productions/C4)
RAIN IN MY HEART - Paul Watson (BBC/BBC Two)

FEATURES
THE APPRENTICE - Dan Adamson, Sanjay Singhal, Martyn Smith, Sir Alan Sugar (TalkbackThames/Mark Burnett Productions/BBC Two)
THE CHOIR - Jamie Isaacs, Ludo Graham, Drew Hill, Sam Grace (Twenty Twenty/BBC Two)
DRAGONS' DEN - Helen Bullough, Dominic Bird, Paul Mackay (BBC Entertainment/BBC Two) THE F WORD - Production Team (Optomen Television/C4)

SPORT
THE BOAT RACE - John Watts, Tony Pastor, John McKenna, Phil Heslop (ITV Sport/ITV1)
F1: HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX - JENSON BUTTON'S FIRST WIN - Neil Duncanson, Gerard Lane (North One Television/ITV1)
CRICKET ON FIVE - Jeff Foulser, Gary Franses, Dylan Jane, Diana Keen (Sunset and Vine Productions/Five)
WINTER OLYMPICS - BBC Sport Production Team (BBC Sport/BBC Two)

NEWS COVERAGE
BBC TEN O'CLOCK NEWS - TERRORISM PLOT AT HEATHROW - BBC Ten O'Clock News Team (BBC News/BBC One)
CHANNEL 4 NEWS - NEWS FROM IRAN - Jon Snow, Deborah Rayner, Ben Monro-Davies, Martin Collett (ITN/C4)
GRANADA REPORTS: MORECAMBE BAY - Production Team (Granada/ITV)
ITV EVENING NEWS - THE ISRAEL/LEBANON CRISIS - Julian Manyon, Mark Austin, Geoff Hill, Rob Bowles (ITN/ITV1)

INTERACTIVITY
DISPATCHES - WAR TORN: STORIES OF SEPARATION - David Modell, Cassian Harrison, Oliver Doward (Dispatches/Channel4.com)
MELTDOWN AND THE BIG CLIMATE CHANGE EXPERIMENT - Frances McNamara, Jonathan Renouf, Paul Bradshaw, Tolu Aina (Supporting BBC Four)
THE SECRET POLICEMAN'S BALL - Clive Tulloh, Lisle Turner, Mike Agnew, Adil Abrar (Tiger Aspect Productions/4Laughs/C4)
TERRY PRATCHETT'S HOGFATHER - Aidan Conway, Giles Pooley, Rod Brown, Ian Sharples (Mob Film Company/Sky One Networked Media)

INTERNATIONAL
ENTOURAGE - Doug Ellin, Mark Wahlberg, Steve Levinson (HBO/ITV2)
HOUSE - David Shore (Heal and Toe Films/Shore Z Productions/Bad Hat Harry Productions in assoc. with NBC Universal Television Studio/Five)
LOST - JJ Abrams, Carlton Cuse, Damon Lindelof, Jack Bender (Buena Vista International Television/Sky One)
MY NAME IS EARL - Greg Garcia, Marc Buckland, Bobby Bowman (Twentieth Century Fox/C4)

ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMME
DANCING ON ICE - Production Team (ITV Productions/ITV1)
DERREN BROWN: THE HEIST - Derren Brown, Andy Nyman, Simon Mills, Ben Caron (Objective Productions/C4)
HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE MARIA? - Production Team (BBC Entertainment/BBC One)
THE X FACTOR - Richard Holloway, Claire Horton, Andrew Llinares, Siobhan Greene (TalkbackThames in association with SYCO TV/ITV1)

SITUATION COMEDY
GREEN WING - Victoria Pile, Dominic Brigstocke, Tristram Shapeero, Robert Harley (TalkbackThames/C4)
THE IT CROWD - Ash Atalla, Graham Linehan, Derrin Schlesinger, Ben Fuller (TalkbackThames/C4)
PULLING - Sharon Horgan, Dennis Kelly, Phil Bowker, Tristram Shapeero (Silver River/BBC Three)
THE ROYLE FAMILY: QUEEN OF SHEBA - Caroline Aherne, Craig Cash, John Rushton, Phil Mealey (Granada Productions/BBC One)

COMEDY PROGRAMME
THE CATHERINE TATE SHOW - Gordon Anderson, Aschlin Ditta, Geoffrey Perkins, Catherine Tate (Tiger Aspect Productions/BBC Two)
LITTLE BRITAIN ABROAD - Matt Lucas, David Walliams, Matt Lipsey, Geoff Posner (BBC Comedy/Little Britain Productions/BBC One)
LITTLE MISS JOCELYN - Gary Reich, Jemma Rodgers, Gareth Carrivick, Jocelyn Jee Esien (Brown Eyed Boy Productions in assoc. with Pozzitive Television/BBC Three)
THAT MITCHELL & WEBB LOOK - David Kerr, Gareth Edwards, Robert Webb, David Mitchell (BBC Comedy/BBC Two)

PIONEER AUDIENCE AWARD
CELEBRITY BIG BROTHER
DRAGONS' DEN
LIFE ON MARS
PLANET EARTH
THE ROYLE FAMILY: QUEEN OF SHEBA
THE VICAR OF DIBLEY CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

THE ACADEMY FELLOWSHIP - RICHARD CURTIS
THE SPECIAL AWARD in honour of Alan Clarke - ANDY HARRIES

Congratulations to all! May your hangovers be large ones in the morning.

BAFTA Television Awards - Part 1

"Love your writers as much as your partners, children and pets. All hail to those who face the blank page every day." Andy Harries, British Academy TV Awards, 2007.

All hail to Andy Harries - congratulations and excuse me if they're not your exact words!