A BAFTA Photographic Essay

THE JOY OF ACHIEVEMENT

A PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY BY SARAH LEE

as US President Franklin D Roosevelt thought, “Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort”, then BAFTA’s Awards must be some of the most jubilant dates on the moving image I calendar. Celebrating and rewarding creative excellence is the driving force of our Awards, and there’s always an air of nervous excitement and genuine good humour among the attendees.

In 2015, photographer Sarah Lee was commissioned by BAFTA to officially document the Awards over the coming years. Given unprecedented access, she was briefed to photograph whatever she wanted, however she liked, to capture the unique narrative of these gala events. Lee, whose work has been featured in TIME, Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair, shot most of the series in digital black and white with the aim of capturing semi-private moments in what is otherwise a very public forum. In this essay, we feature a selection of her candid and playful photographs, capturing a selection of BAFTA winners in unguarded moments of joy.

LOUIS THEROUX, GRAYSON PERRY & IAN HISLOP Theroux – winner of the Richard Dimbleby Award in 2001 and 2002 for Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends and When Louis Met... Perry – winner of Specialist Factual in 2013 for All the Best Possible Taste With Grayson Perry, with Joe Evans, Neil Crombie, Dinah Lord; Special Factual in 2015 for Grayson Perry: Who Are You?, with Neil Crombie, Joe Evans, Dinah Lord Hislop – Have I Got News for You has won twice, for Light Entertainment Programme in 1992 and Comedy and Comedy Entertainment Programme in 2016 (Image: Television Awards 2016)

MARK RYLANCE

Three times a BAFTA winner, twice for television, Actor in 2006 for The Government Inspector;

Leading Actor in 2016 for Wolf Hall (Television Awards 2016)

5960PHOEBE WALLER-BRIDGE

Female Performance in a Comedy Programme in 2017 for Fleabag (Television Awards 2017)

ADEEL AKHTAR, SARAH LANCASHIRE, JOANNA LUMLEY & SAMMY KAMARA

Akhtar – Leading Actor in 2017 for Murdered by My Father Lancashire – Supporting Actress in 2014 for Last Tango in Halifax; Leading Actress in 2017 for Happy Valley Lumley – Light Entertainment Performance in 1993 for Absolutely Fabulous; Comedy Performance in 1995 for Absolutely Fabulous; Special Award in 2000 presented to The Avengers; Fellowship in 2017 (Television Awards 2017)

62DAVID HAREWOOD, JAMES CORDEN, RUSSELL TOVEY & STEPHEN REA

Corden ‒ Comedy Performance in 2008 for Gavin and Stacey Rea ‒ Supporting Actor in 2015 for The Honourable Woman (Television Awards 2015)

WUNMI MOSAKU

Supporting Actress in 2017 for Damilola, Our Loved Boy(Television Awards 2017)

JENNIFER SAUNDERS

Comedy Programme or Series in 1993 for Absolutely Fabulous, with Jon Plowman, Bob Spiers; Fellowship in 2009, with Dawn French; Female Performance in a Comedy Programme in 2012 for Absolutely Fabulous (Television Awards 2017)

MICHAELA COEL

Breakthrough Talent at the Television Craft Awards in 2016 for Chewing Gum; Female Performance in a Comedy Programme in 2016 for Chewing Gum (Television Awards 2016)

ANNA MAXWELL MARTIN

Actress in 2006 for Bleak House;

Actress in 2009 for Poppy Shakespeare (Television Awards 2015)

MARY BERRY

The Great British Bake Off has won the Features category three times, in 2012, 2013 and 2016 (Television Awards 2016)

ASPIRING PHOTOGRAPHER DUKE BROOKS WITH THE CAST OF PEOPLE JUST DO NOTHING People Just Do Nothing won Scripted Comedy in 2017 (Television Awards 2017)

SIR TREVOR MCDONALD

Richard Dimbleby Award in 1999;

Fellowship in 2011 (Television Awards 2016)

DANNY DYER

During Dyer’s run on EastEnders, the show has won Soap and Continuing Drama twice, in 2013 and 2016; it has won a further seven BAFTAs (1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2011)

pening page image: a bird’s eye view of the red carpet; this page: Grayson Perry on the red carpet with BAFTA online content hosts Radzi Chinyanganya and Angela Scanlon (both Television Awards 2016)

ESSAY CREDITS

Photographer Sarah Lee www.sarahmlee.com @sarahmlee47

BAFTA Photography Director Claire Rees

Picture Editor Jordan Anderson

Venue Royal Festival Hall