‘Quadrophenia’ actor Phil Davis resigns Bafta membership in protest of “toe-curling” broadcast
Sherlock, Quadrophenia and Doctor Who star Phil Davis has resigned his Bafta membership in protest of Sunday’s televised awards ceremony, which omitted Bernard Cribbins from the memorium section. The veteran actor has described the show as an “embarrassing travesty”.
Davis announced his resignation on social media, with the British actor criticising Bafta’s decision to cut “deserving winners speeches for toe-curling non-interviews. Poor Richard E. Grant pretending to arrive in a Batmobile and no Bernard Cribbens [sic] in memorium,” he wrote.
The issues highlighted by Davis are a direct result of critical changes to how the awards show is run. In an effort to make the broadcast more audience-friendly, Bafta decided to set up an interview studio where Loose Women’s Alison Hammond interviewed a range of celebrities and award-winners. As a result, many acceptance speeches were cut from the broadcast, including one by the British co-writer of All Quiet on the Western Front, Lesley Paterson.
Davis is one of the many people who have criticised Cribbin’s omission from the In Memorium segment, in which Bafta pays tribute to members of the British film industry who died in the previous year. Cribbins was a familiar face on British TV and film for decades, appearing in Doctor Who, The Railway Children, Alfred Hitchock’s Frenzy, Jackanory and The Wombles. Following criticism from Cribbin’s Railway Children co-star Sally Thomsett, Bafta wrote on Twitter that Cribbins would be “considered for inclusion” in its TV awards.
Despite these criticisms, Bafta’s new broadcast format doesn’t appear to have negatively impacted the ceremony’s ratings. The televised broadcast reached an average of 2.6 million viewers, a slight increase on 2022’s 2.5 million. Some viewers did find fault with the introductory rap by Ariana DeBose, however, in which the West Side Story star paid tribute to the Bafta’s female nominees.
Bafta has refused to comment on Davis’ resignation from the organisation.
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