Netflix drama Adolescence was the big winner at the BAFTA TV Awards in London on Sunday, receiving four honors, a record for that BAFTA ceremony, following two prizes it had won during the recent BAFTA Television Craft Awards.
That total of six BAFTAs compares with the 2019 drama series Chernobyl, which holds the record for the most BAFTA awards won by a single show in one year. It received nine honors in 2020, including seven BAFTA TV Craft and two BAFTA TV Awards. Adolescence beat that haul on the big BAFTA TV Awards night.
The 2026 BAFTA TV honors were being handed out at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in the British capital. Adolescence, about a young boy radicalized in the manosphere and produced by Warp Films, had led the nominations with 11, followed by Disney+’s A Thousand Blows with seven. Comedian and Taskmaster host Greg Davies is hosting the awards ceremony.
Adolescence and The Celebrity Traitors had been the biggest winners of the recent BAFTA Television Craft Awards, with each show receiving two prizes. Other honors went to Slow Horses, Andor, Amadeus, Reunion, Trespasses, The Celebrity Traitors, The Last Musician of Auschwitz and Mussolini: Son of the Century.
Adolescence began Sunday with best supporting actress and actor wins for Christine Tremarco and Owen Cooper before receiving the best limited series honor about an hour later and ending the night with Stephen Graham receiving his first BAFTA best actor honor. Cooper’s latest trophy adds to his wins at the Primetime Emmy Awards, the Golden Globes and the Actor Awards.
The best drama series BAFTA was awarded to ITV and BritBox series Code of Silence, starring Rose Ayling-Ellis in her first lead role as a deaf woman whose lip-reading skills get her hired for a police sting, with the cast also including rising actor Kieron Moore. The star, executive producer Briony Arnold and writer Catherine Moulton lauded the drama for putting inclusion front and center in what they said can serve as a role model and prove that the industry can be open to everyone.
In one of the big surprises of the evening, the leading actress award went to Narges Rashidi for Prisoner 951, who beat out a who’s who of British talent.
Seth Rogen picked up the best international series honor for The Studio, quipping that it’s nice to beat dramas with a comedy and paying homage to late co-star Catherine O’Hara.
Meanwhile, The Celebrity Traitors walked away with the BAFTA for best reality series and the best TV moment of the year, as voted on by the public. Two BAFTAs was also the haul for Amazon Prime Video’s Last One Laughing.
One award on Sunday was presented by two big British stars of the upcoming HBO Harry Potter series, namely Paapa Essiedu, who is portraying Severus Snape, and Nick Frost, who plays Hagrid. No, they didn’t spill any beans on the series, but they had a bit of a laugh. Essiedu kept referring to Frost as Hagrid, to which his co-star responded: “My name is Nick! I sat next to you at the frigging readthrough.”
Among other key moments from the ceremony, Adam Scott handed the honor for best actor in a comedy to Steve Coogan for How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge).
The most politically charged moment came when the documentary Gaza: Doctors Under Attack won the current affairs BAFTA, with two of its creators calling out the BBC for shelving the project, which the then aired on Channel 4.
Cat Burns entertained the BAFTA crowd with a live performance of “How to Be Human” about halfway through the show. And Aurora sang live during the “In Memoriam” segment, which was followed by host Davies also paying tribute to late CNN founder Ted Turner.
Sunday’s ceremony came a month after BAFTA apologized “unreservedly” for the controversy surrounding John Davidson’s Tourette’s Syndrome outbursts at this year’s BAFTA Film Awards ceremony, following an independent review that found “a number of structural weaknesses in BAFTA’s planning, escalation procedures and crisis coordination arrangements.” In particular, the review highlighted that BAFTA “did not fully appreciate the nature of the risk associated with a live broadcast appearance, early warning signs were not escalated, and the absence of a clear operational command structure limited BAFTA’s ability to respond effectively once the incident occurred.”
Outgoing BAFTA chair Sara Putt, in her opening remarks, wished a happy 100th birthday to David Attenborough, which he celebrated on Friday, and said that “TV isn’t going anywhere” but will endure despite disruption and challenges.
Davies quipped in the opening monologue that “a quick AI search” showed him that TV started when Attenborough “first hugged a monkey.” He also welcomed such nominees as Colin Firth, mentioning how attractive his aunt finds him, Ashley Walters and Stephen Graham and the whole team behind Adolescence.
So who won all the awards celebrating the best of British TV? Check out THR‘s full list of Sunday’s 2026 BAFTA TV Awards below, with winners highlighted in bold.
Leading Actor
Colin Firth, Lockerbie: A Search for Truth
Ellis Howard, What it Feels Like for a Girl
James Nelson-Joyce, This City is Ours
Matt Smith, The Death of Bunny Munro
Stephen Graham, Adolescence
Taron Egerton, Smoke
Leading Actress
Aimee Lou Wood, Film Club
Erin Doherty, A Thousand Blows
Jodie Whittaker, Toxic Town
Narges Rashidi, Prisoner 951
Sheridan Smith, I Fought The Law
Sian Brooke, Blue Lights
Drama Series
Blue Lights
A Thousand Blows
Code of Silence
This City Is Ours
Entertainment Performance
Amanda Holden, Alan Carr, Amanda & Alan’s Spanish Job
Bob Mortimer, Last One Laughing
Claudia Winkleman, The Celebrity Traitors
Lee Mack, The 1% Club
Rob Beckett, Romesh Ranganathan, Rob & Romesh Vs…
Romesh Ranganathan, Romesh: Can’t Knock the Hustle
International
The Bear
The Diplomat
Pluribus
Severance
The Studio
The White Lotus
P&O Cruises Memorable Moment Award (voted for by the public)
Adolescence, Jamie Snaps at the psychologist
BIG BOYS, “I didn’t make it, did I?”
Blue Lights, The police are warned of an ambush to plot to silence a key witness
The Celebrity Traitors, Alan Carr wins
Last One Laughing, Bob Mortimer and Richard Ayoade’s speed date
What It Feels Like For a Girl, Byron leaves for Brighton to start Uni, where she introduces herself as Paris
Factual Entertainment
The Assembly
Go Back to Where You Came From
Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars
Race Across the World
News Coverage
BBC Newsnight: Grooming Survivors Speak, BBC Newsnight / BBC Two
Channel 4 News: Israel-Iran: The Twelve Day War, Channel 4 News / Channel 4
Sky News: Gaza: Fight for Survival, Sky News / Sky News
Current Affairs
Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel’s War (Exposure)
The Covid Contracts: Follow the Money
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack
Undercover in the Police
Daytime
The Chase
Lorraine
Richard Osman’s House of Games
Scam Interceptors
Sports Coverage
The 2025 Ryder Cup, Sky Sports
The FA Cup Final, BBC Sport
UEFA Women’s Euro 2025, BBC One
Wimbledon, BBC Sport
Soap
Casualty
Coronation Street
Eastenders
Actress in a Comedy
Diane Morgan, Mandy
Jennifer Saunders, Amandaland
Katherine Parkinson, Here We Go
Lucy Punch, Amandaland
Philippa Dunne, Amandaland
Rosie Jones, Pushers
Actor in a Comedy
Jim Howick, Here We Go
Jon Pointing, Big Boys
Lenny Rush, Am I Being Unreasonable?
Mawaan Rizwan, Juice
Oliver Savell, Changing Ends
Steve Coogan, How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge)
Live Event Coverage
Holocaust Memorial Day 2025, BBC Studios / BBC One
Last Night of the Proms: Finale, Livewire Pictures / BBC One
VE Day 80: A Celebration to Remember, BBC Studios / BBC One
Short Form
Donkey
Hustle and Run
Rocket Fuel
Zoners
Single Documentary
Grenfell: Uncovered
Louis Theroux: The Settlers
One Day in Southport
Unforgotten: The Bradford City Fire
Limited Drama
Adolescence
I Fought the Law
Trespasses
What It Feels Like for a Girl
Entertainment
The Graham Norton Show
Last One Laughing
Michael McIntyre’s Big Show
Would I Lie To You?
Children’s: Scripted
Crongton
Horrible Science
Shaun the Sheep
The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball
Children’s: Non-Scripted
A Real Bug’s Life
Boosnoo!
Deadly 60 Saving Sharks
Word.War.Me (Sky Kids Investigates)
Factual Series
Bibaa & Nicole: Murder in the Park
Educating Yorkshire
See No Evil
The Undercover Police Scandal: Love and Lies Exposed
Specialist Factual
Belsen: What They Found
Simon Schama: The Road to Auschwitz
Surviving Black Hawk Down
Vietnam: The War That Changed America
Scripted Comedy
Amandaland
Big Boys
How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge)
Things You Should Have Done
Reality
The Celebrity Traitors
The Jury: Murder Trial
Squid Game: The Challenge
Virgin Island
Supporting Actress
Aimee Lou Wood, The White Lotus
Christine Tremarco, Adolescence
Chyna McQueen, Get Millie Black
Emilia Jones, Task
Erin Doherty, Adolescence
Rose Ayling-Ellis, Reunion
Supporting Actor
Ashley Walters, Adolescence
Fehinti Balogun, Down Cemetery Road
Joshua McGuire, The Gold
Owen Cooper, Adolescence
Paddy Considine, MobLand
Rafael Mathe, The Death of Bunny Munro
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