Tourette campaigner John Davidson MBE will watch next month’s Bafta Scotland awards in Glasgow by video link from a separate room in the venue. Bafta made the arrangement after Davidson shouted a racial slur during the Bafta Film Awards in London in February.
The incident happened as Sinners stars Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenting an award. The BBC broadcast ran on a two-hour delay but the slur was not removed, and outgoing director-general Tim Davie said the corporation regretted what happened. Davidson said he would be “deeply mortified if anyone considers my involuntary tics to be intentional”. An independent review commissioned by Bafta found structural weaknesses in planning, escalation and crisis coordination, but no evidence of malicious intent.
In a letter to members, Bafta chair Sara Putt and chief executive Jane Millichip said the organisation had consulted Tourettes Action, Tourette Scotland and Davidson himself. He will follow the Glasgow ceremony from a relaxed space in the building with his family and friends, rather than from the main auditorium. Winners will be announced on Sunday 15 November, with Edith Bowman hosting the ceremony in the city.
I Swear, which tells the story of Davidson growing up with Tourette syndrome in Scotland and on which he is an executive producer, leads the field with seven nominations. They include an Audience Award nomination for Peter Mullan, who is also shortlisted for Actor Film alongside co-stars Robert Aramayo and Scott Ellis Watson. Shirley Henderson is nominated for Actress Film for the same film, alongside Lesley Manville for Midwinter Break and Lucy Halliday for California Schemin’. Leah Byrne received an Audience Award nomination for Dept Q, with the Audience Award shortlist first revealed on 24 September. Dept Q and Dinosaur have three nominations each, while Disaster at Sea: The Piper Alpha Story, Everybody to Kenmure Street and Midwinter Break have two apiece.
In Actor Television, Dougray Scott (Summerwater), Jack Lowden (Slow Horses), Peter Capaldi (Criminal Record) and Robert Carlyle (The Hack) are shortlisted. The Actress Television nominees are Ashley Storrie (Dinosaur), Chloe Pirrie (Dept Q), Emma Laird (Mint) and Lucy Halliday (The Testaments). Public voting for the Audience Award is open on the Bafta website until Friday 30 October. Dani Carlaw, chair of Bafta Scotland, said: “Every project takes people with vision and determination to make it happen.”
