THE FELLOWSHIP – SIR BILLY CONNOLLY

The recipient of BAFTA’s highest honour is Scottish comedian, actor, writer and presenter Sir Billy Connolly.

Sir Billy Connolly – BAFTA portrait 2012

BAFTA/Sarah Dunn

By a quirk of fate, BAFTA trophies tend to come Sir Billy Connolly’s way every 10 years. It was in 2002 that the gregarious Scot received a Special Award, while 2012 saw him celebrated by BAFTA Scotland for his Outstanding Contribution to Film and Television. It seems fitting, then, that 2022 should bring him the Academy’s highest honour, one he accepts with gratitude and his usual good humour. “I had no idea the Fellowship existed but I’m told it’s a big deal,” he chuckles. “It’s lovely to be recognised and to become a jolly good fellow.”

Having been nominated several times for his work, the Big Yin is no stranger to BAFTA, but having been born in a Glasgow tenement flat, the young Connolly surely had no ken that such elevation awaited him. It was a passion to perform that led him first to music and then stand-up and by the early 1970s, nationwide comedy tours were happening.

With Judi Dench and wife Pamela Stephenson at A Tribute to Billy Connolly, 2002

BAFTA

Television success eluded him, however, until 1975, when he was invited to make the first of 15 memorable appearances on Michael Parkinson’s chat show. “It was a huge breakthrough,” ”he admits. “It made me 10 times more famous than I was."

Although being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2013 has obliged him to stop performing live, it has not prevented him from appearing in films or on television, including the very recent Billy Connolly Does... series (2022).

At A Tribute to Julie Walters in 2003 with the young Harry Potter cast

BAFTA/Sylviane Poitau

“It’s really important to work, to draw, to write, to walk silly for your grandchildren,” Connolly reflects. “I don’t let the Parkinson’s dictate who I am – I just get on with it. I’ve had a very successful career and I have no regrets.”

WORDS: Neil Smith

Read the full interview: bafta.org/television/features/fellowship-202286