Richard Curtis: Academy Fellow in 2007

Richard Curtis, legendary British comedy writer, accepted a prestigious BAFTA Fellowship at The British Academy Television Awards 2007.

Curtis is renowned for his work on hit TV comedies like Mr Bean, Blackadder and The Vicar of Dibley. He’s also responsible for huge British films including Love Actually and Notting Hill.

Off the screen, Curtis is recognised for his charity work as founder of Comic Relief and the international campaign Make Poverty History.

“He’s immensely generous with his time,” says Comic Relief regular Lenny Henry.

“When it’s a Comic Relief year he’ll give up six months of his life.”

Curtis accepted the Fellowship at The British Academy Television Awards 2007, held on Sunday 20 May at the London Palladium Theatre.

Watch stars that have worked with Curtis pay tribute to the writer below:

Love has always been a major theme running through Curtis’ many screenplays. His friends and colleagues believe it’s love that ultimately drives his work and vision for the world.

However, the characters he creates often have trouble explaining their feelings to others.

“What he’s a master of is the apparent inability of people to communicate,” says Colin Firth.

“Certainly that was true of the character I played in Love Actually and the character Hugh Grant plays in Notting Hill. He’s expressing something very precise in this apparent breakdown of language.”

In tribute, Dawn French hails him as “the most splendid, bandy, utter knobhead I have ever met”. But Robbie Williams perhaps sums Curtis up best as “an absolute national treasure”.

Awarded every year by the Academy, the BAFTA Fellowship is the highest accolade given to an individual in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to film, games or TV.

Previous Fellows include Elizabeth Taylor, Stanley Kubrick, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier and Judi Dench.