Entertainer Bruce Forsyth has been honoured with the highest accolade the Bafta academy can award.The 80-year-old got a standing ovation when he was awarded a Fellowship at the London Palladium, the theatre where he got his big break.He said: "It's so moving that this is where it started 58 years ago when I walked into this theatre and didn't know a soul and the stage doorman made me feel so much at home.""This means so much to me. I can't be funny. There's nothing to be funny about. It's a wonderful, wonderful night for me. There are so many memories going through my mind right now. It's impossible to capture all of them."The veteran comic and game show host added to a debate on reality TV, saying: "We have seen enough of reality shows. I would like to see more young entertainment performers."Acclaimed documentary-maker Paul Watson caused a stir when he railed against reality shows like X Factor saying of judge Simon Cowell: "He's an entertainer but he's also a symptom of today, which is the bully factor. There's too much bullying."We've been taught to sneer. We've become a sneer culture. It does not make me laugh. It makes me f***ing angry."There was a sign viewers may share his view when cult BBC3 sitcom Gavin And Stacey beat The Apprentice, Britain's Got Talent and Strictly Come Dancing to win the Audience Award for Programme of the Year, the only gong voted for by the public.Co-creator James Corden, 29, also won a Bafta for Best Comedy Performance for his role as Smithy in the surprise hit comedy.Veteran actress Dame Eileen Atkins got her first Bafta at the age of 73, beating fellow Cranford Dame and screen sister Judi Dench.Dame Eileen said of her Best Actress award: "I bet they wished they hadn't killed me off now. I don't do humility very well but I have to share this with the ladies of Cranford, all those terrific women. I haven't laughed so much for years."But the mistress of merriment and mischief was Judi Dench. She really was as wonderful as you think she is. I can't think of anything horrible to say about her. I wish I could."Other winners of the night included Harry Hill, who won Baftas for Entertainment Performance and Entertainment Programme for Harry Hill's TV Burp.
ITN | April 21, 2008
