BAFTA TV Awards 2025: Baby Reindeer's ‘cheeky chop’ to Mr Bates' ‘liars & bullies’ - here's look at few defining moments

The biggest night in British television, this year’s BAFTA TV Awards celebrated a diverse range of winners, with the BBC’s Mr Loverman emerging as the only show to claim two awards.

Scottish actor and presenter Alan Cumming hosted the event, which opened with a Traitors skit and featured 29 awards presented throughout the evening, along with a couple of live performances. Here's look at a few defining moments from BAFTA awards:

‘Cheeky chops’ moment

Jessica Gunning took the first award of the evening, greeting her award with a joyful: "Hello cheeky chops!"

Gunning, a first-time nominee, said Baby Reindeer had “changed my life”. She talked about how, as a child, she used to play pretend and make up imaginary friends—never imagining that one day, those early games would lead to winning a BAFTA.

'Liars and bullies'

Mr Bates Vs The Post Office took the limited drama award, following which Patrick Spence told the audience, "Our show didn't change the law, the people of this nation did that," before going on to say it showed the public "cannot abide liars and bullies."

Later, while accepting the special award given to ITV for commissioning the show, the channel’s managing director, Kevin Lygo, said the impact of Mr Bates vs. The Post Office was unlike anything he’d ever seen.

The beep, beep, beep

The award night saw several ‘beep’ moments as the winners couldn't contain their happiness to just words.

Danny Dyer, a first-time BAFTA winner for best male comedy performance, used f**k throughout his speech.

While Sophie Willen, who was accepting the award for a part autobiographical comedy Alma's Not Normal, told the crowd that all she wants to do is go “beep, beep,” but she's not allowed to swear.

Willen, however, called her cast and crew “shit hot”, before catching herself, then repeating “shit, shit”.

The wars

Amid the glitz and glam of the BAFTA TV awards were a few sobering moments. Two filmmakers whose work highlighted two prominent wars – the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Palestine conflict – took the stage to say, “This violence needs to stop now.”

Jamie Roberts, the director of the best single documentary, Ukraine: Enemy In The Woods - filmed by Ukrainian soldiers on the frontline - paid tribute to two contributors to the film who had since been killed.

State of Rage, a show about a Palestinian and Israeli family in the West Bank, won in the current affairs category.

While accepting the award, director Marcel Mettelsiefen said: “It would be wrong to stand here without acknowledging what's happening in Gaza.”

Poirot presents best actress

Sir David Suchet channelled his most famous on-screen character, Hercule Poirot, greeted the audience with “Mesdames, Messieurs” as he took the stage to present the best actress award.

Like the Belgian detective, Suchet said, “I expect you're wondering why I've gathered you here tonight?”

In Memoriam

The “In Memoriam” section is always a poignant highlight of the award function. This year, it was accompanied by live music by concert violinist and social media sensation Esther Abrami.

This section includes several stars who passed away this year, including Shannon Doherty, Tony Slattery, Paul Danan, Henry Kelly, Linda Nolan, Michael Moseley, The Vivienne, and Timothy West.