BAFTA TELEVISION AWARDS 2010

[6.35 - French Time] If you're still asking yourself about the shrapnel found by the Doctor at the end of Doctor Who's Silurian two-parter, well we now have the answer: it was a piece of Graham Norton's TARDIS, as the BAFTA Television Awards 2010 host arrived in a blue box last night on BBC One.

Graham Norton knows a great deal about time travel - he also hosts the Eurovision song contest - but the presenter looked a little nervous. Perhaps the London Palladium was the Purgatory and the elite of British TV industry was eager to have a drink at Nelson's pub after the show. Or maybe Norton feared an animated Matt Smith would pop up and ruin one of his jokes.

On the opposite, Simon Cowell had all the reasons to enjoy the ceremony. Not only he received a Special Award but his format Britain's Got Talent (ITV1) won Best Entertainment Programme - amusingly versus The Graham Norton Show (BBC One), and his pals Ant & Dec got Best Entertainment Performance for I'm a Celebrity... (ITV1). The duo delivered the best quips of the evening, with Dec referring to Cowell as "The man who made ITV what it is today: still in business." Too bad they couldn't host those TV BAFTAs.

The other big winner was Armando Iannucci's political comedy The Thick of It (BBC Two) with Best Situation Comedy, Best Female Performance in a Comedy programme for Rebecca Front, Best Male Performance in a Comedy Programme for Peter Capaldi. This category was presented by Glee's Sue Sylvester, the talented Jane Lynch, but Glee lost the YouTube Award to The Inbetweeners (E4).

Misfits (E4) won Best Drama Series against Jimmy McGovern's The Street, a tired Spooks and, most surprisingly, Being Human (BBC Three). Best comedy programme and Best factual series went deservedly and respectively to the hilarious Armstrong and Miller Show (BBC One) and the wonderful One Born Every Minute (Channel 4) - whose theme is not Simon Cowell's shows. Another rightfully deserved award was Matthew Macfadyen's Best Supporting Actor for Criminal Justice (BBC One).

Occupation (BBC One) won Best Drama Serial. Julie Walters won Best Leading Actress for Mo (Channel 4) against her clone, who played in A Short Stay In Switzerland (BBC One). Kenneth Branagh got Best Leading Actor for Wallander (BBC One) against John Hurt for An Englishman in New York (ITV1, 2009), the superb sequel of the classic The Naked Civil Servant (1975). Hurt won a TV BAFTA for his portrayal of Quentin Crisp in 1976, it's sad they didn't give him one this year for the same role.

Full list of winners here:

http://www.bafta.org/awards/television/television-awards-nominations-in-2010,1095,BA.html#jump0