The Stage

Kosminsky beats Dr Who and Extras writers to Bafta Craft award

Published Monday 22 May 2006 at 15:10 by Liz Thomas

Peter Kosminsky, the man who penned Channel 4’s The Government Inspector, has won a Bafta Craft award for the controversial drama, describing it as “the biggest night” of his career.

The production, which looked at the events surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly and the government’s reasons for going to war with Iraq, was Kosminsky’s debut piece as a writer.

After beating the likes of Russell T Davies, Andrew Davies and Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, he told The Stage: “I thought I was just here to make up the numbers. This is the biggest night of my career.”

Kosminsky is best known for his work as a director including Wuthering Heights, Innocents and The Project.

Brian Percival took home the director award for the BBC remake of Much Ado About Nothing, while Bleak House continued its winning streak bagging three Baftas out of eight nominations, including Simon Elliott for Production Design, Paul Knight for Editing Fiction/Entertainment, and Andrea Galer’s creative talents were recognised in the Costume Design category.

Stars including Bill Nighy, Ashley Jensen, Kim Cattrall, Charles Dance and Geraldine James attended the ceremony held at The Dorchester on London’s Park Lane.

Newcomer Lee Phillips had a successful night bagging two awards, the first in the Break-through Talent category for writing, producing and directing the series How To Start Your Own Country - a series that took him ten years to get commissioned, just before his 30th birthday. The same programme brought him victory in the New Media Developer category together with Julian Pearson and Patrick Cameron for the series’ complementary website citizensrequired.com and its live interactive Citizen TV.

Vanessa White and Neill Gorton picked up the Make up & Hair Design accolade for their work on the contemporary Help, bringing them victory over their costume drama rivals Elizabeth I, Casanova and Bleak House, while Rob Lane won the Original Television Music category for Elizabeth I and the Sound Team behind Colditz took the Bafta for Sound Fiction/Entertainment.

This year’s Special Award went to Production Designer Eileen Diss, whose prodigious credits include Longitude, Jeeves & Wooster, Porterhouse Blue, A Handful of Dust, Sweet William and Up The Junction.

Visit www.bafta.org for full results list.