Netflix drama Adolescence emerged as the biggest winner at the 2026 BAFTA Television Awards, taking home four awards and setting a new record for the most wins by a single programme in one year at the ceremony.
The critically acclaimed series won Best Limited Series, while its stars Stephen Graham, Owen Cooper and Christine Tremarco secured acting honours.
At 16, Cooper became the youngest-ever winner of the Best Supporting Actor category for his role as a boy accused of murdering a female classmate. During his acceptance speech, he referenced legendary British band The Beatles.
“In the words of John Lennon, you won’t get anything unless you have the vision to imagine it,” Cooper said. “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.”
Graham claimed his first Bafta after seven previous nominations, winning Best Leading Actor for portraying Cooper’s on-screen father. Addressing young aspiring actors, he said: “We’re not digging holes, we’re not digging ditches, we’re not saving lives, but we have the opportunity to tell the human condition, and we have the obligation to tell beautiful stories and we need to keep that going.”
He concluded with another Beatles reference, saying: “All we need is love.”
Elsewhere, Iranian-born actress Narges Rashidi won Best Leading Actress for portraying Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in BBC drama Prisoner 951. Rashidi dedicated the award to Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her family.
“Your resilience, your dignity, your love through impossible circumstances have moved us all,” she said. “Your courage will stay with me for the rest of my life. This is for you.”
ITV drama Code of Silence won Best Drama Series, while reality competition The Celebrity Traitors picked up Best Reality Programme. Host Claudia Winkleman dedicated the award to the show’s cast, praising them for playing “with dignity, gusto and their entire hearts”.
Comedian Alan Carr also won the public-voted Memorable Moment award for his appearance on the show. Joking about fooling fellow contestants, he asked: “Was I good? Was I really — or were the other celebrities just thick?!”
Prime Video comedy Last One Laughing won Best Entertainment Programme, while comedian Bob Mortimer earned Best Entertainment Performance for his role on the show.
Veteran comedian Steve Coogan won Best Male Performance in a Comedy for How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge) and vowed to continue playing his iconic character Alan Partridge.
“If anyone wants to know when Alan Partridge is going to die, it’s about the same time that I am going to die,” he said.
In the scripted comedy category, Amandaland triumphed four years after its parent show Motherland won the same award. Creator Holly Walsh dedicated the win to “everyone who is going through a process of reinvention”.
The documentary Gaza: Doctors Under Attack won the Current Affairs prize after the BBC dropped it over impartiality concerns before Channel 4 later aired it.
Producer and reporter Ramita Navai said: “We refused to be silenced and censored and we thank Channel 4.”
Meanwhile, Netflix documentary Grenfell: Uncovered won Best Single Documentary for its examination of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire tragedy.
The ceremony also honoured broadcasting veterans Mary Berry and Martin Lewis with special awards.
Berry, 91, received the Bafta Fellowship, the academy’s highest honour. “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.
An emotional Lewis reflected on his childhood after receiving the Special Award. “For six years, barring school, I barely left the house. Now I’m picking up a Bafta,” he said. “Life can be transformed, it can get better.”
