Wolf Hall WINS BAFTA for Best Drama, Mark Rylance WINS for Best Actor

As we reported in March, BBC series Wolf Hall was dealt the most nominations for BAFTA Craft and TV Awards. At the BAFTA TV Awards portion of the event in London on May 8, we saw this excellent series take home the well-deserved prize for Best Drama! And leaving with the honor of Best Actor was Mark Rylance for his flawless portrayal of Thomas Cromwell.

Wolf Hall director Peter Kosminsky made full use of the podium to lambast the Conservatives for their motions to do away with BBC. BBC as the “envy of the world” is so very right Mr. Kosminsky.

Here's the full speech about protecting the BBC by Wolf Hall director Peter Kosminsky #BAFTATV pic.twitter.com/AaLUK4HASZ

— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) May 8, 2016

We heard some strong opinions early in the night about the Best Actor category: In its live blog from the event, the Telegraph said:

Wolf Hall is one of the biggest nominees tonight – it would seem rude to let Mark Rylance go home empty-handed

And fans had their say too:

https://twitter.com/RossKittens/status/729381498743365633

Mark Rylance and Claire Foy entered the fray arm in arm and had a little dance on the red carpet:

Sadly, neither Claire Foy nor Anton Lesser took home awards for Lead Actress and Supporting Actor, respectively. And even more sadly, the powerhouse performance Damian gave as Henry VIII did not earn him even a nominating nod. Some things defy explanation!

A hearty congratulations to Mark Rylance and to Peter Kominsky for garnering their much deserved trophies at BAFTA. And here’s to the next installment of Hillary Mantel’s story, in the works now, and destined to be on our screens with both Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis already committed to continuing their beautiful work as Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII.

Now, for both those who have and those who haven’t seen the series, here are some highlights to remind you of the brilliance and/or whet your interest in seeking it out: Wolf Hall Redux

Here’s Mark Rylance backstage after the event: BAFTA Video

Fun fact: Our very own Damianista just happened to be in London while this was all happening. And as she did the touristy thing of riding the London Eye, she happened to snap a pic of the red carpet from above. Here’s her pic juxtaposed with host of the show Graham Norton on the carpet with the Eye behind him. Serendipity, thy name is FanFun!

Edited to add:
Here is Mark Rylance accepting his award:

We’re a nation of storytellers, we’re admired around the world for it, and long may that live.

Later, Damian himself spoke in agreement with his lauded cohorts about the importance of the BBC. BT.com reported:

Damian Lewis has echoed his support for his Wolf Hall director Peter Kosminsky and co-star Mark Rylance, who launched a passionate defence of the BBC at the recent Bafta TV Awards.

“They said two different things, but they were both saying the same thing: essentially, allow it (the BBC) to flourish and let’s not have too much governmental involvement,” he said.

Damian also spoke particularly about the importance of the BBC’s news programming to the world at large on BBC Radio 5.