2026 BAFTA TV Awards: ‘Adolescence’ Dominates as Owen Cooper Completes Unprecedented Run
Just over a year after it debuted, Netflix’s record-breaking four-part limited series Adolescence, co-created by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham, finished its awards run on its home turf, taking home the BAFTA TV win for Limited Drama, along with Leading Actor for Graham, Supporting Actor for Owen Cooper and, in a surprise, Supporting Actress for Christine Tremarco. While Graham and Cooper had won Primetime Emmy Awards for their performances last September, Tremarco’s co-star Erin Doherty took the Supporting Actress trophy there. The series had won two BAFTA craft awards last week, bringing its total tonight to six. It was Graham’s first BAFTA win after seven previous nominations.
For Cooper, at just 16-years-old, it meant the conclusion of an unprecedented awards sweep. In the last year, the acting newcomer in his debut cemented his place in TV history, already having become the youngest actor to win the four major U.S. TV awards—Primetime Emmy, Golden Globe, Actor Award and Critics Choice—for a single performance, but also the Gotham Award, Independent Spirit Award and Royal Television Society Award leading up to his BAFTA win.
“Wow, it’s heavy that to be fair,” Cooper said as he lifted the award. “A year ago this time last year I was presenting an award and now I’m collecting one, so this is a bit mad.”
He continued, saying “Thank you to BAFTA. Thank you to the Adolescence family, and they are family now.” Cooper then went on to mention the three things you need to succeed in life, “So in my eyes I think you only need three things to succeed: one, you need an obsession; two, you need a dream; and, three, you need the Beatles. In the words of John Lennon, you won’t get anything unless you have the vision to imagine it.”
The Studio won the award for International series with creator and star Seth Rogen accepting the honor on behalf of his late co-star Catherine O’Hara.
The Celebrity Traitors and Last One Laughing won two prizes each. Drama Series went to Code of Silence and Leading Actress was won by Narges Rashidi for Prisoner 951.
Former Great British Bake Off judge Dame Mary Berry received the top lifetime achievement accolade, the BAFTA Fellowship, at the age of 91.
“I’m really bowled over by this accolade. I’m a cook, I’m a teacher, so I feel very honoured to be given Bafta’s highest award,” she said. She finished her speech offering thanks to her three children, including her late son William, who died in a car accident in 1989 at the age of 19. She said: “William is in heaven, but I thank him.”
Financial expert Martin Lewis was also given an honorary prize, the Special Award. An emotional Lewis said he wrote the speech on Thursday, 42 years after the death of his mother when he was 11.
“For six years, barring school, I barely left the house. Now I’m picking up a BAFTA,” he told the audience. “Life can be transformed, it can get better. If you had told that broken, scared boy that I’d proudly be a campaigning journalist, his jaw would have dropped. So I dedicate this to consumer journalism, where I found my voice.”
The 2026 BAFTA TV Awards were held at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London and hosted by comedian and Taskmaster host Greg Davies.
Here is the complete list of winners.
International
The Bear
The Diplomat
Pluribus
Severance
The Studio (WINNER)
The White Lotus
Drama Series
A Thousand Blows
Blue Lights
Code of Silence (WINNER)
This City Is Ours
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 (WINNER)
Taron Egerton, Smoke
Leading Actress
Aimee Lou Wood, Film Club
Erin Doherty, A Thousand Blows
Jodie Whittaker, Toxic Town
Narges Rashidi, Prisoner 951 (WINNER)
Sheridan Smith, I Fought the Law
Siân Brooke, Blue Lights
Limited Drama
Adolescence (WINNER)
I Fought the Law
Trespasses
What It Feels Like for a Girl
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
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
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? Its 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
Children’s: Scripted
Crongton (WINNER)
Horrible Science
Shaun the Sheep
The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball
Children’s: Non-Scripted
A Real Bugs Life
Boosnoo!
Deadly 60 Saving Sharks
World.War.Me (Sky Kids Investigates) (WINNER)
Factual Series
Bibaa & Nicole: Murder in the Park
Educating Yorkshire
See No Evil (WINNER)
The Undercover Police Scandal: Love and Lies Exposed
Specialist Factual
Belsen: What They Found
Simon Schama: The Road to Auschwitz (WINNER)
Surviving Black Hawk Down
Vietnam: The War That Changed America
Scripted Comedy
Amandaland (WINNER)
Big Boys
How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge)
Things You Should Have Done
Reality
The Celebrity Traitors (WINNER)
The Jury: Murder Trial
Squid Game: The Challenge
Virgin Island
Current Affairs
Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel’s War (Exposure)
The Covid Contracts: Follow the Money
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack (WINNER)
Undercover in the Police (Panorama)
Daytime
The Chase
Lorraine
Richard Osman’s House of Games
Scam Interceptors (WINNER)
Entertainment
The Graham Norton Show
Last One Laughing
Michael Mcintyre’s Big Show
Would I Lie to You
Entertainment Performance
Amanda Holden and Alan Carr, Amanda & Alan’s Spanish Job
Bob Mortimer, Last One Laughing (WINNER)
Claudia Winkleman, The Celebrity Traitors
Lee Mack, The 1% Club
Rob Beckett, Romesh Ranganathan Rob & Romesh Vs…
Romesh Ranganathan, Romesh: Can’t Knock The Hustle
Factual Entertainment
The Assembly
Go Back to Where You Came From (WINNER)
Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars
Race Across the World
Live Event Coverage
Holocaust Memorial Day 2025
Last Night of the Proms: Finale
Ve Day 80: A Celebration to Remember (WINNER)
News Coverage
BBC Newsnight: Grooming Survivors Speak
Channel 4 News: Israel-Iran: The Twelve Day War (WINNER)
Sky News: Gaza: Fight for Survival
Short Form
Donkey
Hustle and Run (WINNER)
Rocket Fuel
Zoners
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
The FA Cup Final
UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 (WINNER)
Wimbledon 2025
P&O Cruises Memorable Moment Award (Voted For By The Public)
Adolescence
Big Boys
Blue Lights
The Celebrity Traitors (WINNER)
Last One Laughing
What It Feels Like for a Girl
CRAFT WINNERS
Children’s Craft Team
The Very Small Creatures
Costume Design
A Thousand Blows
Director: Factual
Vietnam: The War That Changed America
Director: Fiction
Adolescence
Director: Multi-Camera
Super Sunday – Liverpool v Tottenham Hotspur
Editing: Factual
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack
Editing: Fiction
Prisoner 951
Emerging Talent: Factual
Olaide Sadiq (Director, Grenfell: Uncovered)
Emerging Talent: Fiction
Janice Okoh (Writer, Just Act Normal)
Entertainment Craft Team
The Celebrity Traitors
Make Up & Hair Design
Amadeus
Original Music: Factual
The Last Musician of Auschwitz
Original Music: Fiction
Mussolini: Son of the Century
Photography & Lighting: Fiction
Trespasses
Photography: Factual
Our Land: Israel’s Other War
Production Design
Juice
Scripted Casting
Reunion
Sound: Factual
The Celebrity Traitors
Sound: Fiction
Adolescence
Special Award
Simone Pennant
Special, Visual And Graphic Effects
Andor
Titles & Graphic Identity
UEFA Women’s Euro 2025
Writer: Comedy
Big Boys
Writer: Drama
Slow Horses
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
2026 BAFTA TV Awards: ‘Adolescence’ Dominates as Owen Cooper Completes Unprecedented Run 
Director Watch Podcast Ep. 153: ‘Memento’ (Christopher Nolan, 2001) 
2026 San Francisco International Film Festival Reviews: ‘The World of Love,’ ‘A Sad and Beautiful World,’ ‘Nuisance Bear,’ ‘One in a Million’ (SFFILM) 
2027 Oscar Predictions: SUPPORTING ACTOR (May)