'Mr Bates' Creator Talks Season 2 After BAFTA Win

PBS did something deeply unusual during the 2023-2024 TV season. Normally, schedules are set months in advance, and in the case of something like Masterpiece, where premiere dates are dictated by when the show airs in the U.K., there's a lot of shifting around of series to ensure co-productions arrive in the correct country first. But in February 2024, PBS completely threw the Sunday night spring schedule into chaos with the last-minute addition of Mr Bates vs the Post Office, the Toby Jones starring miniseries that told the true story of the post submasters who were wrongly accused of stealing millions of dollars from the postal service, instead of admitting the computer system the government paid for was crap.

Though the series didn't do the same record-breaking numbers for PBS as it did for ITV, that decision has made it so that Masterpiece can share (at least a little) in the BAFTA win the series landed at the 2025 TV awards, taking home one of the top prizes of the night, Best Limited Series, while ITV won the Special Award for commissioning the series. The other significant wins in the top categories were Blue Lights Season 2 for Best Drama Series and Alma's Not Normal for Best Comedy. However, unlike those series, Mr Bates will not be back for a second season... or at least creator Patrick Spencer hopes not.

"I think that's your job," he told the assembled press after his win. "We've done our bit, we've carried the baton for a bit, we need you guys to spread the message that they haven't been paid yet, it's not over, and they are being bamboozled with bureaucracy. Please, we beg you, don't make us make another drama, get the message out. There are still people in abject poverty waiting for their compensation."

Other significant wins at the BAFTAs went to Marisa Abela, who won for Best Leading Actress for Industry Season 3; Lennie James took home Best Leading Actor, and Ariyon Bakare won Best Supporting Actor for Mr Loverman, one of the few shows that didn't come to the U.S. in the last year. Baby Reindeer was limited to a Supporting Actress win for Jessica Gunning. (She has now officially swept every win possible.) Also continuing its streak, Shōgun picked up Best International series.

Danny Dyer took home Best Male Performance In A Comedy, but for Sky’s Mr Big Stuff (also without an American distributor) instead of Rivals. Ruth Jones won Best Female Performance In A Comedy for the Gavin & Stacey finale, which, as she reiterated to the press, was the final one. She'll still work with James Corden in the future, but on different projects.

Hopefully, Misters Loverman and Big Stuff will land distribution in North America on the backs of their wins.

As for the BAFTAs themselves, Alan Cumming acquitted himself well as host, even if he didn't do nearly as many skits as David Tennant does. However, the opening sketch was a perfect send-up of the show that brought him back to prominence, The Traitors, which is super popular on both sides of the pond, a smart choice since BritBox is still working on turning the BAFTAs into its own personal Oscar and Emmy-style events. 

Since the 2025 BAFTAs moved to calendar-year eligibility, they are also the final event in the 2024 awards season. It's a perfect circle since the TV BAFTAs aired on Sunday, and the Cannes Film Festival, the first major event of this year's awards season, began 24 hours later.

The 2025 BAFTAs (and the red carpet that happens directly before) are streaming on BritBox for those who want to check out the show. Both halves of the 2026 BAFTAs (Film and TV) will stream live on BritBox next winter and spring. Industry Seasons 1 through 3 stream on Max; Shogun Season 1 streams on Hulu (and Disney+ under the Hulu tile); Baby Reindeer is on Netflix; Blue Lights Seasons 1 and 2, and all of Gavin & Stacey are available on BritBox.