Whether you were bolted to your seat for Broadchurch or your life was dominated by Doctor Who, chances are you’d be able to pinpoint your favourite TV moments of the year.
From the stars who made us laugh and cry, to the moments which gave us bags of viewing pleasure, it’s been a year of excellent performances across British TV.
But while the great and the good of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts are celebrating their own success tomorrow night in London at the annual Baftas, WalesOnline has been garnering your support over the past month for the Welsh talent that deserves to be recognised in our very own Dafftas.
And what a breadth of talent we’ve had to work with.
From the luminous Ruth Jones in Stella to the brooding Richard Harrington in Hinterland/Y Gwyll, from BBC Wales’ triumphant Doctor Who and Sherlock moments to the lighthearted giddiness of Rhod Gilbert still on his Work Experience.
One winner who’s been bowled over by the response to the Dafftas is Eve Myles.
Named ‘Best Actress’ for her role in BBC Wales’ Frankie, the former Torchwood star from Ystradgynlais in Powys couldn’t be more chuffed. The eponymous Frankie Maddox was a district nurse who was shown throughout the single series to be more emotionally involved with her job than her personal life.
Video: Check out Eve's acceptance speech:
“You do theatre and at the end you do a curtain bow and you can gauge how people enjoyed it, but with TV you do it, let it go and go on to something else. So for people to vote for me as Frankie, to say that was a character they loved, it feels like a big huge hug to me and I’m holding on to it, so thank you.”
The news comes just 13 weeks after Myles gave birth to her second child, and she says it’s recognition like this that makes the hard work all worthwhile.
“It means absolutely everything to me. It’s not a group of people sitting around a table, it’s the people we make the programme for. It’s a really lovely thing to receive from them.”
With almost 45% of the vote, Myles was a clear favourite, but there was support for the other names in the category – Stella’s Ruth Jones; Alexandra Roach, last seen in Utopia; Luther and Inside No 9 star Aimee-Ffion Edwards; and Mr Selfridge employee Amy Beth Hayes.
In pictures: The winners and all the nominees:
Myles says it’s an honour to be named alongside such illustrious company, and praises the talent that’s coming through in Wales.
“I think that we’re blessed with the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff – it’s the top drama school in the UK. It’s packed with fresh talent and I love working on things like Baker Boys, where I got to meet little Amy Morgan who is doing incredibly well in London and was in Mr Selfridge. It makes me very proud to see people come out of that college and see people do incredibly well. I’m a fellow of the college, so it is a real honour.
“The Welsh talent has always been there, but in the last 10 years it’s really coming to the forefront of everything that’s on television and in the theatre in London, and I’m glad to say that they’ve come from our beautiful country.”
Having been named Wales’ Sexiest Woman 2013, Myles is no stranger to weighty awards.
“I never understand the sexiest woman things – I’m an actor, I’m not a model! I’ve been up for a Bafta for about 10 times and I’ve won once, for the first-ever episode of Torchwood. You never do a programme to be recognised – any award or recognition is a bonus.”
While Myles is tight-lipped about her new acting role, which starts filming later this week, she has revealed that the Gold sitcom You and Me with Anthony Head is returning later this year. But with Frankie, something clicked.
“When Lucy Gannon gave me the part of Frankie, it was unbelievable, because she’d written her so beautifully and so honestly, and she’d written somebody that I’d like as a best friend, and you’d like your loved ones to be looked after by her. Then on the other side, she had massive flaws. Her personal life wasn’t that great and she always put her work first. It was lovely to play the complexities of her. The gift of the character was brilliant, a woman who isn’t broken, who’s confident and fun and funny. Frankie was a joy to play.”
Where Myles’ role in Frankie relied on a calm disposition, a warm approach and a good bedside manner, the winner of the ‘Best Actor’ Daffta played a character who could scarcely be accused of having any of these attributes.
Rhys Ifans was announced as Elementary’s Mycroft Holmes in June 2013, and in many ways, the intense, often acerbic Welsh actor was made for the role.
The Stateside rendering of the Sherlock tale stars Jonny Lee Miller as the consulting detective, with Charlie’s Angels star Lucy Liu supporting him as Dr Joan Watson.
Bringing Ifans in as Sherlock’s older brother, the shadowy Mycroft, signified an intent to create an altogether darker ambience for the successful programme’s second series.
Although Haverfordwest native Ifans is notoriously reticent about his career and life in general, there has been plenty of praise for his addition to the cast – and WalesOnline readers obviously agree, gifting him the ‘Best Actor’ Daffta ahead of Robert Pugh, Matthew Gravelle, Richard Harrington and Matthew Rhys.
Executive producer Rob Doherty says: “I’ve always been a tremendous fan (of Rhys) and feel very honoured to have him in the fold. Equally excited are Jonny and Lucy, both of whom have worked with Rhys in feature films.”
Although BBC Wales’ award-winning Sherlock may have made more waves over here, it’s clear Elementary has life in it yet. Doherty says there’s plenty of character exploration to come.
“As thrilling as it is for us to have Rhys aboard, we will have to work around his schedule, so that may dictate the pace of that story to some degree. We’ve been looking forward to having Mycroft on board for some time, so we want to tally a longer story about him and his relationship with Sherlock – and some of the secrets that Mycroft has perhaps been keeping from his brother.”
From the mysterious to the hilarious – it seems there’s plenty of room on our TV sets for both.
The winner of the Daffta for ‘Best Comedy Performance’ is Di Botcher, recognised for her standout role as Aunty Brenda in Ruth Jones’ successful Sky comedy Stella.
It’s all the more impressive, as the sole woman on the list beat competition from The Trip to Italy star Rob Brydon, Rhod Gilbert’s Work Experience, Iwan Rheon from Vicious and Edge of Heaven creator/star Robert Evans.
It’s been a bittersweet week, Botcher admits, as she lost her father Bernard on Sunday, but she says she’s so grateful for the public vote.
“I am absolutely delighted for this award and I would like to dedicate it to my dad, and I’m so sorry that he wasn’t around. It’s the sort of thing I would have gone to my parents’ house and told them, and my mother [Glenys] would have gone, ‘oh that’s lovely’ and gushed on about it, and then in a quiet moment I would have asked my dad what he thought and he would have gone, ‘lovely girl, very proud’. I told my mum and she was absolutely delighted, it really cheered her up in a dark time, so I’d like to thank everybody who took the time to vote for Aunty Brenda.
“I think it’s really wonderful. To think that people were clicking because they like the character of Aunty Brenda and making me their choice – it’s like a load of wellwishers have sent me little messages. It’s really gorgeous.”
It’s a sign of Aunty Brenda’s place in the hearts of Stella fans, who have made their love for the show so apparent that the team are currently filming the forth series.
“Stella is very popular, and I think especially after the last series, the interest has snowballed. Where I am in Port Talbot, loads of people watch it and they come up and tell me that Stella is their favourite programme.
“I’m very lucky because Aunty Brenda is such a fantastic character. I’m very pleased because of the high calibre of the other choices, but also because I was the only woman in it and I won. Nowadays you do hear actresses saying there’s no parts for women over 40, so maybe I’m striking a blow here for overweight middle-aged women everywhere!”
Although it’s a comedy that often has us cracking up at home, Botcher insists that playing it straight is the key for the actors involved.
“I know it’s comedy, but you have got to find some truth in it. When I say the words as Aunty Brenda, I really mean them. Aunty Brenda doesn’t live in a comedy, she lives in the real world and she’s a sharp-tongued woman. So you have to commit the same as if Aunty Brenda was in King Lear.”
With a CV which includes stage work as well as TV spells in Sherlock, Downton Abbey, Belonging, Little Britain and The Thick of It, the one thing she couldn’t claim to be is pigeonholed. So what next for the woman who has tried her hand at everything?
“I think tightrope walking would be quite high on my list! I’m lucky because I’ve done a lot of stage work and musicals in the West End and at the National. I love doing musicals, so I wouldn’t mind a really stunning part in one of those, but as far as acting goes, I love playing Aunty Brenda so much and am so glad that the writers are always coming up with fantastic lines and situations. Variety is the key – if I can’t have tightrope walking, of course,” she laughs.
If that sounds a bit hair-raising to you, chances are you weren’t tuned to our next award-winner, a programme that could never be described as light entertainment.
With more twists and turns than a Premiership football season, Broadchurch was the crime thriller to end them all, and it pipped two other massive TV events – Sherlock’s long-awaited return and Doctor Who’s regeneration from Matt Smith into Peter Capaldi – to scoop the ‘Moment of the Year’ Daffta.
The eight-part drama, which went out on ITV last spring starred David Tennant as DI Alec Hardy and Olivia Colman as DS Ellie Miller, hunting the killer of a schoolboy in a close community.
Filmed in Dorset, the chilly landscape reflected the doubt viewers felt about every character – but when the killer was unveiled as Ellie’s husband Joe, there were few who didn’t choke on their tea ... including Welsh actor Matthew Gravelle, who played the cold-blooded killer.
“I was speechless [when I found out]. It was a complete shock,” says the Porthcawl-born actor.
The nation discovered the secret when nine million viewers tuned in to the finale. Gravelle praised the script for engendering such devotion.
Along with the rest of the cast, the 37-year-old actor signed contracts to keep it under wraps.
“When you get a job you may think it’s got a good script but then you forget about it – even when it’s being screened you don’t think about it. But you couldn’t do that with this. And when I watched the first episode, I got as caught up as everyone else – although I had already spoilt it for myself by being the killer!”
ITV has announced a second series but Gravelle has not been linked with the production.
“I don’t think it will be like Midsomer Murders where there’s a different murder in the area each week as that wouldn’t work,” he says of its return.
“Broadchurch has been so unique and you can’t bottle anything like that twice.”
The Baftas are on BBC One tomorrow at 8pm
