With the latest Welsh BAFTAs having been and gone, there was a little bit of bad news as Doctor Who lost out on an award this year. The show was nominated for four awards including: Outstanding Actress, Best Special and Visual Effects, Excellence in Production Design and Outstanding Television Drama.
The Welsh BAFTAs are split across a number of industries including television, film, music, and games, and Doctor Who was up against some big names including Sian Phillips, Sir Anthony Hopkins, and Michael Sheen.
However, just to be nominated for four awards is an incredible feat with Jodie Whittaker and Arwel Wyn Jones up for awards as Outstanding Actress and Excellence in Production Design, respectively.
On the red carpet, Jodie said:
“It’s just lovely, it’s really exciting, there are loads of us from work here tonight. As ensembles go, Doctor Who is huge – it’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears for something you’re incredibly proud at the end.”
Even though there were no awards given to the production team this year, Whittaker is right; it is still something to be incredibly proud of. This was Arwel Wyn Jones’ seventh nomination and Doctor Who has always performed well at these award ceremonies, often winning in areas of technical excellence, celebrating the crew behind the scenes.
And while it would have brilliant for the show to bring home something this year, it’s nonetheless testament to the hard work of the overall production – after all, the BAFTAs also nominated Rosa for the must see moment of the year. The Hugo Awards nominated writers, Chris Chibnall, Malorie Blackman, and Vinay Patel for the episodes Rosa and Demons of the Punjab. The NTAs also had Doctor Who up for the Most Popular Drama.
Doctor Who did win in the Rocky Awards, a Canadian event for Best Sci-Fi and Genre Based television series. Tosin Cole was nominated for Best Young Actor at the Saturn Awards, and TV Quick awards nominated Jodie Whittaker and the show for two of their awards. Malorie Blackman and Chris Chibnall did win a Visionary Arts Organisation Award for their collaboration on Rosa.
So even if Doctor Who lost out at the awards this year, it is by no means a failure.
