Dame Mary Berry, the beloved cookery expert and BBC broadcaster, was honoured with the BAFTA Fellowship at the annual BAFTA TV Awards, delivering a speech that balanced humour and heartfelt emotion. The 91-year-old had the audience in stitches while also moving many at home to tears as she dedicated the award to her family, including her son William, who passed away in 1989 at the age of 19.
A Night of Emotion and Laughter
Accepting the prestigious award on stage at London's Royal Festival Hall, Mary became emotional as she credited her husband Paul for decades of unwavering support. “And to our children, Thomas, William, and Annabel. William is in heaven, but I thank him,” she said, her voice breaking. Speaking backstage afterwards, she admitted she wished her parents were alive to witness her triumph. “It is the most amazing award, such an honour. Aren’t I lucky? You just wish that your parents were still alive and you’d get on the phone and you’d say ‘guess what Mum!’ On Bake Off we won an award, and I also won an award for being best judge, but this is something quite different.”
Nervous Before the Big Moment
Despite her decades of experience, Mary confessed to feeling anxious while waiting for her turn on stage. “Sitting in the front row, waiting for everything to happen was agony,” she said. “However much you think about it at home, it’s not quite the same when you suddenly see all those wonderful people who have come to see awards and to receive awards. I listened to everybody giving the most wonderful speeches while thinking ’it’s going to be me soon. I hope they’ll laugh. I hope they’ll come with me’.” Her fears were unfounded, as she brought the house down by announcing her latest venture. “So what’s next for me, at the age of 91? I have just started my own YouTube channel,” she declared to raucous laughter. “We shall see.”
Continuing a Legacy
Explaining her foray into digital media, Mary said: “We’re just starting on the YouTube channel and it will have all sorts of recipes - updated recipes, going in on detail, telling people where they’ll go wrong and hoping that they’ll get success following simple recipes.” She remains open to new opportunities. “I’m open to all sorts of things! I love learning more about things that happen. I did Country Houses ages ago and I really enjoyed doing that, snooping behind the green baize door and talking to all the people who work there. I think I’ve got an inquisitive mind.”
Cookery's Resurgence and Jamie Oliver's Campaign
Mary noted a resurgence in home cooking in the UK, which she hopes will continue. “I think people are very much wanting to know where their food comes from,” she said. “More and more people are enjoying cooking and I think particularly for those children who perhaps haven’t been very successful in academic subjects, they love cooking at home and it is very rewarding.” She backs Jamie Oliver’s campaign to reintroduce home economics into the school curriculum, calling it an essential life skill. “I hope to get it back into schools so that when the young leave school they can perhaps do ten nutritious things that they love to make and eat, even on a small cooker or quite easily, because that will stop them from having rubbish.”
Celebrating with Friends
After clutching her heavy BAFTA gong, Mary said she was off to enjoy the party and chat with her old pal Claudia Winkleman, who also won a BAFTA for The Celebrity Traitors. “I love looking at all the dresses and the clothes,” she laughed, looking immaculate in a pale pink party frock. “I’m just enjoying life. There’s more things around the corner I hope.”
Other Highlights from the Night
Actress Lucy Punch said she was “always flattered” when fans stop her, but often they want more than a selfie. “A lot of people ask me to do a video for their friend about a collab,” she laughed. Show writers Holly Walsh and Laurence Rickard joked that Melania Trump would be a top guest star, potentially leading to an episode called “Melania Narnia.” Stephen Graham, creator of the hit series Adolescence, teased a new project in development, confirming there will not be a second season of Adolescence. The show, which tackles toxic masculinity and online influences, won four BAFTAs on the night. Katherine Parkinson, who won the comedy actress BAFTA for Here We Go, said she was “very, very pleased” but regretted name-checking co-star Alison Steadman in her speech, as Steadman dislikes being idolised. “Now, to sit alongside her and consider her a friend is quite ‘pinch me’, to be honest. But she’s got no time for that when I try to say it to her, I think she genuinely gets quite irritated so I’m not going to say that any more.”
