Stephen Graham, star of the Netflix drama Adolescence, was overcome with emotion as his on-screen wife Christine Tremarco won the Best Supporting Actress award at the Television BAFTAs. The 52-year-old actor was seen wiping tears from his eyes in the audience at The Royal Festival Hall while Christine, 49, delivered her acceptance speech.
Christine could not contain her joy after her surprise victory, which saw her triumph over her co-star Erin Doherty, who had previously won both a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award. Oh my goodness, thank you so much BAFTA, Christine began. I feel so privileged to be standing up here holding this BAFTA. I feel so honoured to be a part of Adolescence.
Stephen, who created and starred in the hit series, was visibly moved during Christine's speech as she thanked him for believing in her. She continued: To Hannah Walters and Stephen Graham, thank you so much for believing in me. Thank you for our friendship.
Christine concluded by thanking the rest of the cast and crew of the Netflix series, as well as her agent, family, and friends for their support. In the four-part drama, which was filmed in a single-take style, Stephen and Christine portrayed Owen Cooper's character's parents, Eddie and Manda.
Elsewhere during the night, Owen continued his award-winning streak by taking home the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor. The 16-year-old actor made history as the youngest winner of the Best Supporting Actor award at both the Golden Globes and the Emmys, and added another gong to his name.
Nominations were announced in March, with Stephen leading the way with 11 nominations for Adolescence and seven for his Disney+ series A Thousand Blows, for which he is an executive producer. Adolescence, created by Stephen and writer Jack Thorne, tells the story of British teenager Jamie Miller, who is found guilty of murdering a female classmate after being influenced by the manosphere online. Each episode is filmed in one continuous shot and has been widely praised for addressing topics such as online radicalisation and misogyny.
The Netflix series also won in the Limited Drama category, beating shows including I Fought The Law (ITV), Trespasses (Channel 4), and What It Feels Like For A Girl (BBC Three). Owen said of his win: Every time we are at these events and your name gets called out, your mind flashes back to your first audition, the first time on set, the first time you met the cast. It's been an unreal two years. I'm just grateful to everyone who is here today.
When asked how the success has changed his life and what he plans to do next, Owen said: I don't know what I want to do next. It's changed my life because I've met all these beautiful people. Me and my family have travelled the world, so it's just amazing. He added: Erin was the first person I ever worked with, so it was a dream to film. It was hard to do – I'm not going to stand here and say it was easy, it was hard to do that in front of a stranger I have never met – but Erin and the crew were so kind.
Producer Mark Herbert of Warp Films said: Big thanks to Stephen Graham for bringing this gang together. The script ripped our hearts and punched us in the guts. He also thanked Netflix boss Anne Mensah, who picked up the project after Amazon Prime Video had passed on it.
While Netflix received a total of 29 nominations, the BBC had the highest number with 73, five of which were for The Celebrity Traitors. The show became the highest-rated programme on British TV last year, with host Claudia Winkleman up for a chance to take home a gong in the Best Entertainment Programme category. Prime Video's Last One Laughing competed against the all-stars version of The Traitors, with star Bob Mortimer nominated for Best Entertainment Performance.
The BAFTA Fellowship was presented to Dame Mary Berry DBE, and Martin Lewis CBE received the BAFTA Television Special Award. Dame Mary said of the honour: I couldn't believe it was true. What a huge honour to be presented with the BAFTA Fellowship. For over 50 years, I have enjoyed every moment of teaching my passion on television, and I thank all the generous professionals along the way who have given me guidance and support – and I am still learning. This amazing BAFTA Fellowship is the icing on the cake!
BAFTA TV Awards 2026: The Winners
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) – WINNER
Actress in a Comedy
- Diane Morgan – Mandy
- Jennifer Saunders – Amandaland
- Katherine Parkinson – Here We Go – WINNER
- Lucy Punch – Amandaland
- Philippa Dunne – Amandaland
- Rosie Jones – Pushers
Daytime
- The Chase
- Lorraine
- Richard Osman’s House of Games
- Scam Interceptors – WINNER
Drama Series
- A Thousand Blows
- Blue Lights
- Code of Silence – WINNER
- This City is Ours
Entertainment
- The Graham Norton Show
- Last One Laughing – WINNER
- Michael McIntyre’s Big Show
- Would I Lie to You?
Entertainment Performance
- Amanda Holden – Alan Carr & Amanda Holden's Spanish Job
- Bob Mortimer – Last One Laughing
- Claudia Winkleman – The Celebrity Traitors
- Lee Mack – The 1% Club
- Rob Beckett – Rob & Romesh vs…
- Romesh Ranganathan – Romesh: Can’t Knock the Hustle
International
- The Bear
- The Diplomat
- Pluribus
- Severance
- The Studio – WINNER
- The White Lotus
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
- Siân Brooke – Blue Lights
Limited Drama
- Adolescence (Netflix) – WINNER
- I Fought The Law (ITV)
- Trespasses (Channel 4)
- What It Feels Like for a Girl (BBC Three)
News Coverage
- BBC Newsnight – Grooming Survivors Speak Production Team
- Channel 4 News – Israel-Iran: The Twelve Day War Production Team
- Sky News: Gaza – Fight for Survival Production Team
Reality
- The Celebrity Traitors – WINNER
- The Jury: Murder Trial
- Squid Game: The Challenge
- Virgin Island
Scripted Comedy
- Amandaland – WINNER
- Big Boys
- How Are You? It's Alan (Partridge)
- Things You Should Have Done
Single Documentary
- Grenfell: Uncovered – WINNER
- Louis Theroux: The Settlers
- One Day in Southport
- Unforgotten: The Bradford City Fire
Soap
- Casualty
- Coronation Street
- EastEnders – WINNER
Sports Coverage
- The 2025 Ryder Cup Production Team
- The FA Cup Final
- UEFA Women’s Euro 2025
- Wimbledon 2025
Supporting Actor
- Ashley Walters – Adolescence
- Fehinti Balogun – Down Cemetery Road
- Joshua McGuire – The Gold
- Owen Cooper – Adolescence – WINNER
- Paddy Considine – Mobland
- Rafael Mathé – The Death of Bunny Munro
Supporting Actress
- Aimee Lou Wood – The White Lotus
- Christine Tremarco – Adolescence – WINNER
- Chyna McQueen – Get Millie Black
- Emilia Jones – Task
- Erin Doherty – Adolescence
- Rose Ayling-Ellis – Reunion
Specialist Factual
- Belsen: What They Found (BBC Two)
- Simon Schama: The Road to Auschwitz (BBC Two) – WINNER
- Surviving Black Hawk Down (Netflix)
- Vietnam: The War That Changed America (Apple TV)
Short Form
- Donkey (BBC Three)
- Hustle and Run (Channel 4) – WINNER
- Rocket Fuel (BBC Three)
- Zoners (BBC Three)
Factual Series
- Bibaa & Nicole: Murder in the Park (Sky Documentaries)
- Educating Yorkshire (Channel 4)
- See No Evil (Channel 4) – WINNER
- The Undercover Police Scandal: Love and Lies Exposed (ITV1)
Children's Non-Scripted
- A Real Bug’s Life (Disney+)
- BooSnoo! (Sky Kids)
- Deadly 60: Saving Sharks (CBBC)
- World.War.Me (Sky Kids Investigates) – WINNER
Children's Scripted
- Crongton (BBC iPlayer) – WINNER
- Horrible Science (BBC iPlayer)
- Shaun the Sheep (CBBC)
- The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball (Cartoon Network)
Live Event
- Holocaust Memorial Day 2025 (BBC One)
- Last Night of the Proms: Finale (BBC One)
- VE Day 80: A Celebration to Remember (BBC One) – WINNER
P&O Cruises Memorable Moment Award (Voted 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 The Celebrity Traitors – WINNER
- 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
