Talented pair to get Bafta Cymru’s glittering prizes
AN ACCLAIMED broadcaster and an Oscar-winning costume designer will be honoured with special awards by Bafta Cymru.
Paddington and Casino Royale costume designer Lindy Hemming will receive the Siân Phillips Award at this year’s British Academy Cymru Awards on October 14.
The Bafta Cymru Special Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television will be presented to broadcaster Mavis Nicholson.
The announcement was made at the Bafta Cymru nominee party on Thursday.
Lindy Hemming, whose recent credits include Wonder Woman and Wonder Woman 1984, the Paddington films and Casino Royale, will become the 14th recipient of the Siân Phillips Award.
Ms Hemming, who was born in Carmarthenshire, was voted by the Bafta Cymru committee as the winner of the Siân Phillips Award in recognition of her significant contribution to international feature film-making.
Previous recipients of the Siân Phillips Award include writer Abi Morgan, Happy Valley director Euros Lyn, BBC Middle East correspondent Jeremy Bowen, as well as actors Rhys Ifans, Rob Brydon, and Matthew Rhys.
The Bafta Cymru Special Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television will be awarded to acclaimed presenter and broadcaster Mavis Nicholson.
Originally from Neath, Mavis is widely regarded as the UK’s first female chat show host.
In an illustrious career spanning several decades she has interviewed celebrities including David Bowie, Margaret Thatcher, Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Bacall, Nina Simone, Kenneth Williams, Bette Davis, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.
Her 1979 interview with David Bowie is widely regarded as one of the best interviews ever conducted with the singer.
Bafta Cymru director Hannah Raybould said: “The Bafta Cymru committee recognises Lindy Hemming’s significant talent and her huge contribution to such an array of films as the Wonder Woman films, the Dark Knight Trilogy, Paddington, Harry Potter, Topsy Turvy, Casino Royale, Four Weddings and a Funeral and many more.
“Her work on The Dark Night, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Porterhouse Blue have earned her Bafta nominations, while her work on Topsy Turvy earned her an Oscar in 2000. We are also very much looking forward to celebrating the extensive career of broadcaster and presenter Mavis Nicholson and her status as the first female chat show host in the UK.”
The awards were announced at the Bafta Cymru nominees party. Guests included actors Annes Elwy, Amanda Mealing, Mark Lewis Jones, Carys Eleri, and Downton Abbey and Bang director Philip John.
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