Baby Reindeer scoops early Bafta win with prize for Jessica Gunning

Baby Reindeer has snapped up an early Bafta win, with Jessica Gunning earning the best supporting actress prize for playing a stalker in the hit Netflix series.

The Netflix hit, said to be inspired by the real-life experiences of creator Richard Gadd, sees his character Donny being hounded by a woman called Martha, played by Gunning, after he serves her a free cup of tea in the pub where he works.

Elsewhere, the Bafta for limited drama was awarded to ITV’s Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, which has renewed public attention on the subpostmasters who fought to clear their names in the wake of the Horizon scandal.

The best supporting actor prize went to Ariyon Bakare for the BBC LGBT+ drama Mr Loverman, based on the Bernardine Evaristo novel of the same name.

In the comedy performance categories former EastEnders star Danny Dyer won for Sky’s Mr Bigstuff, with Welsh actress Ruth Jones winning for her role playing Vanessa Shanessa “Nessa” Jenkins in the Gavin And Stacey finale.

Yorkshire-born Gunning beat her fellow Baby Reindeer star, trans actress Nava Mau, who played Donny’s girlfriend Teri.

On stage on Sunday at London’s Royal Festival Hall, Gunning said: “Hello, cheeky chops, gosh, thank you Bafta, wow”, before joking that she used to pretend to be a dog in her garden.

“I sometimes do this kind of cheesy thing where I look back on the younger me and moments in my life, and I imagine the kind of then me, seeing me now, and think, ‘little did we know’,” she said.

She said last year, her and Gadd were at the ceremony, and “little did we know what the year had in store”, while thanking him for changing “her life”.

Gunning has previously picked up an Emmy, Sag award and Golden Globe for playing Martha, whose interference in Donny’s life makes his world unravel, as the show also dramatises the failing comedian character’s other traumas.

Baby Reindeer hit the headlines after it was released on Netflix last year when a woman, claiming to be the “real” Martha, came forward to bring a lawsuit against the streaming company.

Mr Loverman follows Barrington Walker, played by Lennie James, as he contemplates leaving his wife for Bakare’s character.

Accepting the best supporting actor prize, Bakare said: “This award stands on the shoulders of those who came before me, those who might have been afraid to come out, to be who they want to be.”

Collecting the limited drama prize, Mr Bates producer Patrick Spence said that they would never have been able to make the show without ITV and the journalists who had covered the scandal.

He said that people such as Sir Alan Bates “demanded action with such rage” and that the airing of the drama proved the public “cannot abide liars and bullies”.

Mr Spence also said that “maybe it is a warning” to others in power, adding: “Our show didn’t change the law, the people of this nation did that.”

More than 900 subpostmasters were prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 after faulty Horizon accounting software made it look as though money was missing from their accounts.

Toby Jones is nominated in the leading actor category for his role playing Sir Alan, a former subpostmaster and lead campaigner.

Jones, co-creator of BBC series Gavin And Stacey, became emotional as she thanked her writing partner and friend James Corden as she picked up the female performance in a comedy gong.

She said: “The person I would like to thank most is my dear, dear, talented, lovely, kind, funny friend, James Corden with whom I have shared this astonishing journey for the past 17 years, and without whom, Nessa Shanessa Jenkins would simply not exist. I love you, James. I love writing with you. Long may it continue. Thank you so much.”

The ceremony also saw BBC comedy series Alma’s Not Normal, starring and created by Bolton actress Sophie Willan, win best scripted comedy for its second season, while The Jury: Murder Trial beat popular BBC series The Traitors to the Bafta reality prize.

The BBC also won the sport award for its coverage of the Paris 2024 Olympics and an award in the live coverage category for Glastonbury Festival.

Best specialist factual went to BBC Two’s Atomic People, which heard from those who witnessed the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Director Benedict Sanderson said: “We hope the film is a reminder that nuclear warfare should never be an option again.”

The factual series winner was To Catch A Copper, a Channel 4 series that unearthed cases of corrupt officers in Avon and Somerset Police.

BBC’s Ukraine: Enemy In The Woods, which follows Ukrainian soldiers fighting against Russia, won best single documentary while the current affairs gong went to State Of Rage, about Palestinian and Israeli families in the West Bank, from Channel 4.

BBC Breakfast: Post Office Special scoped up the news coverage award for the programme which saw former sub-postmasters share their stories.

The international Bafta was won by American historical drama Shogun while EastEnders picked up best soap.

The ceremony was opened by host and Scottish actor Alan Cumming, who referenced his presenting role on The Traitors US in a sketch with footage of him shown in the Scottish Highlands castle where the hit reality series takes place.

On stage, Cumming also joked about his acting career, Facebook, and brought out a fake children’s book about long speeches and who winners are supposed to thank.