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Joan Bakewell - Winner's Acceptance Speech, Fellowship, Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards in 2019

12 May 2019

Winner's acceptance speech by Joan Bakewell in the TV Fellowship category 

JOAN BAKEWELL:  BAFTA, thank you for this, the greatest of honours.  I'm really very moved by it.

But it all began with Charlotte Bronte.  People perhaps don't realise how subversive a character Jane Eyre is, calling as she does for the right of women to express themselves as much as men do.

Well, I took in that message from the age of 12, and it's been with me ever since.

So it has been a long journey, and along the way I have had the encouragement and the professional support of many, many women, making their own bid to as much a chance as men, and possibly earn as much.  That would be nice.  I owe them all a great deal.

It's also been an exhilarating journey, one all of you here tonight, and those of you working in film and television, do actually share with me.  Creativity is the human spark that gives meaning to life.  There's nothing more exhilarating than coming together with a crowd of people of different talents to create a work together for others to enjoy, whether it's a cathedral, a symphony, a sculpture or a television programme.

When it's a success, and tonight bears witness to what feels like a golden age of television, then it enriches all our individual lives and the culture of this country.

We have all made the right choice in working in this wonderful business.  Thank you for the chance to be one of you.