‘Wolf Hall’ director Peter Kosminsky was the surprise talking point of the TV BAFTAs on Sunday night (8 May) thanks to his impassioned speech in favour of the BBC.
The historical TV series was the first winner of the night, succeeding over ‘Humans’, ‘No Offence’ and The ‘Last Panthers’ in the Drama Series category.
However, it was Peter’s speech at the awards show that really caused a stir in the audience, as he addressed culture secretary John Whittingdale’s comment that dissolving the BBC was a “tempting process”.
Peter said: “I think most people would agree that the BBC's main job is to speak truth to power, to report to the British public without fear or favour. It's a public broadcaster independent of government, not a state broadcaster. All of this is under threat right now.”
He continued: “This is really scary stuff folks and do you know what? It's not their BBC, it's your BBC. In many ways our broadcasting - the BBC and also Channel 4, which they're also trying to eviscerate - is the envy of the world and we should stand up and fight for it, not let it go by default, and if we don't, blink and it'll be gone.”
His comments were echoed throughout the evening by fellow awards-winners, including Ian Hislop of ‘Have I Got News For You’, Mark Rylance and Suranne Jones, as well as presenter Tom Hiddleston.
Watch Peter's full speech in the video below...
Check out the full list of winners from this year’s TV BAFTA-winners here.
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