Virgin Media British Academy Television Award Nominees from some of the best TV shows of 2021, We Are Lady Parts, Help, The Girl Before, Landscapers, The Outlaws and more to take part in exclusive pre-awards panel Q&As
Cast of It’s A Sin Olly Alexander, Callum Scott Howells, Lydia West, Omari Douglas and David Carlyle reunite for in depth discussion on multi-BAFTA nominated show
BAFTA has today announced the schedule for The Television Sessions 2022, an annual programme of events celebrating some of the leading television talent who starred in and created the most talked about TV shows of the last 12 months. The Television Sessions 2022 will take place from 19 April – 4 May in the lead up to the BAFTA TV Craft Awards on 24 April and the Virgin Media BAFTA TV Awards on 8 May.
Audiences will be treated to first-hand insights into shows including It’s A Sin, Landscapers, We Are Lady Parts, The Outlaws, Help, The Girl Before, Grenfell: The Untold Story and Football’s Darkest Secret: The End of Silence, as well as having the chance to put their questions forward during the panel sessions.
In-person sessions confirmed to take place at BAFTA 195 Piccadilly include a Virgin Media sponsored session on It’s A Sin and a dedicated Emerging Talent panel, whilst online Q&A panels celebrate female performance and craft voices by featuring nominees from the Supporting Actress, Female Performance In A Comedy Programme, Editing and Screenwriting categories.
The Television Sessions are part of BAFTA’s learning, inclusion and talent development work, helping to creatively inspire and engage the industry, budding talent and fans alike.
Kam Kandola Flynn, BAFTA Senior Manager, Television Programme & Head of New Talent, said: “BAFTA is thrilled to be celebrating female performance and female craft voices in this year’s Television Sessions programme, hearing from some of the women who have made or starred in some of this year’s best TV. We will again be hosting conversations that allow the creative talent from behind-the-scenes as well as on-screen to offer insights into the craft of programme making, and we’ll be celebrating the joy of TV with the very best in the industry.”
Tickets, which are open both to the public and industry, are available at events.bafta.org.
The full event schedule is listed below.
BAFTA TELEVISION: THE SESSIONS 2022 Event Schedule:
TUESDAY 19 APRIL
The Television Sessions: Editing
18:00 – 19:00 (BST), Zoom live stream (link will be available on events.bafta.org)
Celebrating female craft voices, this is a unique opportunity to hear from this year’s Editing nominees as they discuss how they crafted and shaped these compelling stories across drama and documentary and offer you the chance to ask your own questions.
Confirmed speakers:
Anna Price (Pandemic 2020)
Elen Pierce Lewis (Landscapers)
Sarah Brewerton (It’s A Sin)
Emma Lysaght (Grenfell: The Untold Story)
WEDNESDAY 20 APRIL
The Television Sessions: Screenwriting
18.00 – 19.00 (BST), Zoom live stream (link will be available on events.bafta.org)
Celebrating female craft voices in screenwriting, join the nominees from the Writer: Comedy and Writer: Drama categories as they share peer-to-peer insights on how they created these captivating stories for the screen.
Confirmed speakers:
Emma Jane Unsworth (The Outlaws)
Kayleigh Llewellyn (In My Skin)
More speakers to be announced.
MONDAY 25 APRIL
The Television Sessions: It’s A Sin
19:30 – 20:30 (BST), at BAFTA 195 Piccadilly
Set in London between 1981 - 1991, this ground-breaking mini-series tells the moving story of five friends whose lives are tested as they grow up in the shadow of AIDS, determined to live and love more fiercely than ever. This session invites the key practitioners behind the programme to delve into the collaborative creative process which led to the series picking up 11 nominations across TV and TV craft and a Virgin Media Must-See Moment nomination for Callum Scott Howell’s portrayal of Colin in his devastating AIDS diagnosis scene.
Confirmed speakers:
Andy Pryor – Casting Director
Olly Alexander - Leading Actor
Callum Scott Howells – Supporting Actor
David Carlyle – Supporting Actor
Omari Douglas – Supporting Actor
Laura Flynn – Hair & Make-Up Designer
Lin Davie – Hair & Make-Up Designer
Lydia West – Leading Actress
Nicola Shindler – Executive Producer
Phil Collinson - Producer
Sarah Brewerton - Editor
More speakers to be announced.
THURSDAY 28 APRIL
The Television Sessions: Emerging Talent
19:30 – 20:30 (BST), at BAFTA 195 Piccadilly
Hear from exciting emerging talent nominees working across factual and fiction in writing, directing and producing, as they discuss the craft behind bringing their vision to the screen. This session will be followed by a networking opportunity.
Confirmed speakers:
Adam Brown – Director (Into the Storm: Surfing to Survive)
Hugh Davies – Producer (Football’s Darkest Secret: The End of Silence)
Poppy Begum – Director (Queens of Rap)
Sophie Cunningham – Director / Producer (Look Away)
Adjani Salmon – Writer (Dreaming Whilst Black)
Nathan Bryon – Writer (Bloods)
More speakers to be announced.
TUESDAY 3 MAY
The Television Sessions: Supporting Actress
19:00 – 20:00 (BST), YouTube live stream
Hear from this year's Supporting Actress nominees as they offer insight into their process and share their experience of bringing these powerful characters to screen.
Confirmed Speakers:
Cathy Tyson (Help)
Jessica Plummer (The Girl Before)
More speakers to be announced.
WEDNESDAY 4 MAY
The Television Sessions: Female Performance in a Comedy Programme
19:00 – 20:00 (BST), YouTube live stream
We invite this year's nominees to share insights into their nuanced performances and to discuss peer-to-peer the journey behind crafting these captivating characters and bringing them to life on screen.
Confirmed speakers:
Anjana Vasan (We Are Lady Parts)
More speakers to be announced.
Notes to Editors:
A select number of press tickets are available for each Session. Please contact [email protected] to register your interest.
Photography from the in-person sessions will be available https://bafta.thirdlight.com/link/BAFTAPressImages/
Accredited media will be given access to the BAFTA Electron FTP site, where there will be an opportunity to access pooled footage from the in-person BAFTA TV Sessions 2022.
The BAFTA TV Craft Awards will take place at The Brewery on Sunday 24 April and The Virgin Media BAFTA TV Awards will take place at The Royal Festival Hall on Sunday 8 May 2022.
To apply for media accreditation, visit www.bafta.org/media-centre/accreditation
The full nominations for this year’s awards can be found here.
Follow BAFTA social channels @BAFTA.
About BAFTA
BAFTA – the British Academy of Film and Television Arts - is a world-leading independent arts charity that brings the very best work in film, games and television to public attention and supports the growth of creative talent in the UK and internationally. Through its Awards ceremonies and year-round programme of learning events and initiatives – which includes workshops, masterclasses, scholarships, lectures and mentoring schemes in the UK, USA and Asia – BAFTA identifies and celebrates excellence, discovers, inspires and nurtures new talent, and enables learning and creative collaboration. For more, visit www.bafta.org. BAFTA is a registered charity (no. 216726).
About Virgin Media O2
Virgin Media O2 launched on 1 June 2021, combining the UK’s largest and most reliable mobile network with a broadband network offering the fastest widely-available broadband speeds. It is a customer-first organisation that brings a range of connectivity services together in one place with a clear mission: to upgrade the nation. Virgin Media O2 is the corporate brand of the 50:50 joint venture between Liberty Global and Telefónica SA, and one of the UK’s largest businesses.
The company has 48 million UK connections across broadband, mobile, TV and home phone. Its own fixed network currently passes 15.6 million premises alongside a mobile network that covers 99% of the nation’s population with 4G, and more than 300 towns and cities with 5G services targeting 50% population coverage in 2023.
Virgin Media O2 completed its roll out of gigabit broadband speeds across its entire network footprint in 2021 and plans to upgrade its fixed network to full fibre to the premises with completion in 2028. In January 2022, it also announced that it would be the only major mobile network that isn’t bringing back roaming charges in Europe.
Virgin Media O2 is a major investor in the UK. It employs around 18,000 people, has more than 425 retail stores and has committed to invest at least £10 billion over the next five years. Integration work is progresses at pace, with Virgin Media and O2 launching a joint product - Volt - less than 5 months from coming together.
Today, the business delivers award-winning broadband and WiFi connectivity to homes as well as providing a connected entertainment service. This brings together live TV, thousands of hours of on-demand programming and a wide-selection of apps to customers through a set-top box and on-the-go through tablets and smartphones.
It also provides 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G mobile services, and is the network of choice for mobile virtual network operators giffgaff, Sky Mobile and Lycamobile, as well as managing a 50:50 joint venture with Tesco for Tesco Mobile.
Virgin Media O2 Business plays a leading role in supporting the public sector and businesses of all sizes. This includes a variety of managed connectivity services and flexible working capabilities, security, data insight, 5G private networks and cloud solutions, as well as wholesale services to other operators and partners.
Awards for Virgin Media and O2’s telecommunications services include recognition by GWS for having the most reliable UK mobile network for three years in a row (2021, 2020, and 2019) and winning the publicly voted Uswitch awards in 2022 as both the Best Network for Roaming and Most Popular Mobile Network. Virgin Media was crowned Fastest Broadband Provider in the Choose Broadband Awards and Best Broadband Provider in the 2021 Trusted Reviews Awards and at the 2021 Mobile Industry Awards O2 claimed two wins - Network of the Year, and Best Online Retailer.
Virgin Media O2 is committed to using the power of connectivity to supercharge communities across the UK, taking action to close the digital divide and helping to build an inclusive, resilient, and low carbon economy. The company has an ambition to achieve net zero carbon operations (scopes 1 & 2) by the end of 2025.
Virgin Media O2 is registered in England and Wales. Registration number: 12580944. Griffin House, 161 Hammersmith Road, London, United Kingdom, W6 8BS.
