British Academy Scotland Awards 2020: Winners Announced

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts in Scotland (BAFTA Scotland) announced the winners of this year’s British Academy Scotland Awards during a special digital ceremony hosted by Edith Bowman.

Joining Edith Bowman on the night to present the Awards, which celebrated the very best in film, games and television produced over the last year in Scotland, was Sanjeev Kohli, alongside a number of guest presenters including Janey Godley; Julia Brown, Lorn Macdonald, Richard Rankin and Shereen Nanjiani. Brian Cox, Lorraine Kelly, Iain Stirling, Katie Leung, JJ Chalmers, Bill Paterson, Jack Lowden and Alex Ferns were among those helping to announce this year’s award winners remotely.

The multi-faceted comic actor and entertainer Stanley Baxter was presented with Outstanding Contribution to Film and Television, while film and television editor Phyllis Ironside received the Outstanding Contribution to Craft (In Memory of Robert McCann).

Phyliss Ironside said: “Thank you BAFTA Scotland, this is fantastic. I am really pleased and honoured to receive this award, as it recognises not just me, but the craft of editing.”

Speaking from his home in London, Stanley Baxter said: “I don’t think I could have been anything else but a performer. I was so rotten at everything else I tried to do. Normally at school, you know you find out there, what you have a talent for, and it turned out I had no talent at all, but really it gave me all my interest with showbusiness interest. And that was true all of my life. Thank you, BAFTA Scotland, for this honour I’m very, very pleased. Thanks a lot.

Tributes poured in for the iconic, actor, comedian and entertainer from fellow comedians such as Sir Billy Connolly, Alan Cumming, Elaine C Smith, Armando Iannucci, Ford Kiernan and Tom Allen.

Billy Connolly said: “Hello Stanley! Billy Connolly here. Hoping that you’re nervous. I’m hoping you’re a wreck sitting in your seat, feeling like hell. I know that you don’t like this kind of thing, but you deserve it. Nobody deserves it more. The work you put in in the 60’s and 70’s it stands on its own. You’re a marvel and you’ve got beautiful legs.”

Alan Cumming, said: ”I really do think that Stanley has - inadvertently probably - given me the sort of outlook I have on acting and writing and everything I do really, because so many of the things he was parodying, those sketches and big musical numbers and everything I saw as a little boy, I was seeing his parodies of them before I’d seen the original things. So, my whole way that I look at life, is that I’m looking for the parody even though it hasn’t been parodied yet, and I’m really, really grateful to Stanley for his work having enthused me with it.’

The British Academy Scotland Awards were streamed live across BAFTA channels, with a special highlights programme on BBC Scotland, which is now available on the BBC iPlayer.

Jude MacLaverty, Director of BAFTA Scotland, said: “This year has been an incredibly challenging one for the industry, and of course beyond, so we are absolutely delighted to have been able to recognise the achievements of the very best creative talent in Scotland across the film, games and Television industries, in some way this year.

Although our Awards had to take a different format this year, it has been a brilliant evening, and we would like to thank our incredible hosts, guest presenters and wonderful partners for helping us deliver such a brilliant show during these difficult times. It really has been absolutely fantastic to celebrate the inspiring work that’s being produced in Scotland over the past year, and we would like to offer our warmest congratulations and raise a virtual glass to all our worthy winners and nominees.”

This year’s British Academy Scotland Awards were supported by Official Partners: Acqua Panna, Audi UK, Champagne Taittinger, Deloitte, EE, Screen Scotland, S.Pellegrino and Villa Maria.

See the full list of nominees and winners.