Eamonn McCormack/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA
- Kirsty Wark to be awarded BAFTA Fellowship for her exceptional contribution to television
- The BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises take place at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on 11 May and broadcast on BBC One and BBC iPlayer
Today, BAFTA announces that Kirsty Wark will be presented with the BAFTA Fellowship at this year’s BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises on Sunday 11 May. The BAFTA Fellowship is the highest accolade bestowed by BAFTA upon an individual in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to film, games or television.
Kirsty Wark is one of the UK’s trailblazing news journalists. She presented BBC’s Newsnight for 30 years, holding politicians and public figures to account with her formidable interviewing skills. Making her reputation as a journalist and producer on BBC Scotland, Kirsty was one of the first television journalists to arrive on the scene when PAN AM Flight 103 was blown up in the skies above Lockerbie in 1988. Two years later, she famously locked horns with Margaret Thatcher in a headline making interview which propelled her into the national spotlight.
Kirsty joined BBC Two’s arts strand The Late Show as a presenter, then moving on to BBC’s Newsnight in 1993. Wark continued to span both arts and news/current affairs, hosting The Review Show for over a decade, as well as a range of BBC Arts series and documentaries. Over the years she has had memorable encounters with everyone from Madonna, Harold Pinter, Pete Doherty, Damien Hirst and George Clooney.
Kirsty hosts BBC Radio 4’s long-running flagship series The Reunion and regularly presents Start the Week and Front Row. She continues to present arts programmes on TV and radio, cultural history series such as The Women Who Changed Modern Scotland and Panorama specials.
Kirsty Wark said: “This is a wonderful surprise and a great honour. Television has been my home for forty years, both at the BBC and in Independent Production, and I continue to learn every day from people with awe-inspiring skills who have become treasured colleagues and dear friends. Thank you, BAFTA!”
Jane Millichip, CEO of BAFTA, said: “I am beyond delighted to present this year’s BAFTA Fellowship to Kirsty Wark. Kirsty’s dedication is unwavering when it comes to telling the stories that really matter. Her legacy is unmatched in the world of news and current affairs broadcasting. Her ability to inform and engage her readers, listeners and viewers is truly inspiring. And she does all this with enormous charm and wit. We are thrilled to celebrate her continued and lasting impact on the industry and beyond.”
The Fellowship will be presented to Kirsty Wark during the 2025 BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises ceremony on Sunday 11 May at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. The ceremony will be hosted by Alan Cumming and will be broadcast on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The awards and Red Carpet ceremony will also be available on BritBox on demand in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the Nordics.
BAFTA Fellows previously honoured for their work in television include Baroness Floella Benjamin OM DBE DL, Meera Syal CBE, Sir Billy Connolly, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, Jon Snow, Sir Bruce Forsyth, Joanna Lumley, Melvyn Bragg, Michael Palin, Sir Trevor MacDonald, Sir David Attenborough, Dame Julie Walters and Kate Adie CBE DL.
The BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises are the biggest night in the television calendar, recognising the incredible quality and variety of television that was enjoyed in 2024, with shows such as Baby Reindeer, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, Rivals, Slow Horses, Life and Death in Gaza (Storyville) and Say Nothing leading the nominations. This year’s shortlist was announced on 27 March and can be found here.
Notes To Editors:
Please use the full event title in all coverage – BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises
BAFTA Social:
Follow @BAFTA on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and X to get all of the latest updates, exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and interviews from the 2025 BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises.
Social posts should use #BAFTATVAwards with @PandOCruises
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Facebook: @BAFTA
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LinkedIn: @BAFTA
Accreditation:
BAFTA Television Awards’ media, photography and publicist accreditation for the red carpet and backstage areas is now open and will close at 23.59 Friday 25th April.
For further information on media and photography accreditation please contact:
E: Multitude Media – BAFTA Team [email protected]\
BAFTA: Press Office – [email protected]
Photography:
FREE Promotional Imagery available for use within a 3-month period of the event taking place:
Pre-awards promotional images of the BAFTA ‘mask’ award, hosts & additional content
BAFTA Television Nominees’ Party supported by P&O Cruises – Official handout imagery from the party will be available at approx. 21:00 (BST) on Thursday 24 April 2025
BAFTA Television Craft Awards – A selection of handout imagery from the red carpet, ceremony & winner’s press room areas from approx. 15:30 (BST) onwards, Sunday 27 April 2025
BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises – A selection of handout imagery from the red carpet, ceremony & winners’ press room areas from approx. 15:30 (BST) onwards, Sunday 11 May 2025
All the above will be available to download via BAFTA Photoshelter (without a log-in): https://bafta.photoshelter.com/galleries/C0000pzh2SdkMTKk/BAFTA-Television-Awards
Password: TVAwards2025Press
For exclusive placement enquiries and personal use imagery please contact: [email protected]
MEDIA CLIPS ACCESS:
THE FOLLOWING RESTRICTIONS APPLY TO USING EXCERPTS OF ONSTAGE EVENTS WITHIN THE SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL AT THE 2025 BAFTA TELEVISION AWARDS WITH P&O CRUISES
- BAFTA will be creating video content at this year’s BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises for broadcasters, wires and online content providers/publishers to use free-of-charge for editorial.
- The content will include clips suitable for media to use as required, as well as packages appropriate for publishing directly online
- Requests for extensions to the news access window may be emailed to [email protected]
ADDITIONAL CLIPS VIA SCREENOCEAN.COM
- Event coverage will also be available to license from Screenocean.com, BAFTA’s partner agency for clip sales. Clips will be available from Wednesday 14 May and will feature acceptance speeches as well as interviews from the red carpet and the backstage winners’ area. For further information please contact Screenocean at [email protected]or +44(0)1954 262052.
About BAFTA
BAFTA’s mission as a charity is to champion the creative and cultural importance of the screen arts across film, games and television. Through its Awards ceremonies and year-round programme of talent initiatives and learning events that include masterclasses, lectures, scholarships, bursaries, and mentoring schemes in the UK and North America, BAFTA identifies and celebrates excellence, discovers, inspires and nurtures new screen talent, and enables learning and creative collaboration. For more, visit www.bafta.org. BAFTA is a registered charity (no. 216726).
About P&O Cruises
P&O Cruises is Britain’s favourite cruise line, welcoming guests onboard its seven ships to experience holidays with a blend of discovery, choice, relaxation and exceptional service catered towards British tastes. With a proud history spanning more than 187 years, each ship has its own appeal from family friendly or exclusively for adults with every sailing delivering each guest a holiday like never before.
With over 180 destinations worldwide, P&O Cruises itineraries are carefully curated to inspire discovery and are varied to suit newcomers and experienced guests alike. P&O Cruises prides itself on working with top culinary talent; Food Heroes include chefs Marco Pierre White, José Pizarro and Shivi Ramoutar and as well as award-winning drinks expert Olly Smith. Kjartan Skjelde has created Norwegian speciality dishes for sailings to the Norwegian fjords.
Recent awards for P&O Cruises include:
- Wave Awards 2024 – Best Ocean Cruise Line
- British Travel Awards 2024 – Best Cruise Line for Family Holidays (winner) and Best Cruise Line for No-Fly Cruise Holidays (silver accreditation)
- Best in Cruise Awards by Cruise Critic Awards 2024 – Best Cruise Line and Best for Families
- The Travel Industry Awards 2024 by TTG – Ocean Cruise Line of the Year company is part of Carnival Corporation & PLC (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE:CUK).
