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Paul Mescal has won a British Academy Television Award (Bafta) for his performance in the hit Irish television series Normal People.
Offering a signal that awards ceremonies are returning to normal, Mescal, raised in Kildare, was at BBC Television Centre in west London to receive his best-actor prize in person. The performer overcame fierce competition in that race from the likes of John Boyega, nominated for Small Axe, and Josh O’Connor, up for his performance as Prince Charles in The Crown.
“It’s been pretty nuts,” said Mescal of the last year. “I am so lucky that I got to continue working to a certain capacity and this feels like a very nice way to tie it up in a bow.”
In accepting the award, Mescal acknowledged Element Pictures, the Irish company behind Normal People; Lenny Abrahamson, director of the show, and his co-star Daisy Edgar Jones. “I know everyone always says that it’s great to be nominated with such extraordinary actors,” said Mescal. “But they really, really are. They are true leaders in the field.”
Ed Guiney, who co-produced the adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel, was full of praise for his young star.
“All of us at Element are so proud of Paul,” he told The Irish Times. “The love story between his Connell and Daisy’s Marianne resonated around the world during the first lockdown in a way that took us all by surprise. It’s a brilliant tribute to him, and to his work with Daisy and Lenny, that he won in such an incredibly tough category – and particularly amazing given that it’s his first screen role. An extraordinary achievement.”
Up for best mini-series
Element announced in February that Abrahamson was to direct Sasha Lane, Jemima Kirke and Joe Alwyn in an adaptation of Conversations With Friends, Rooney’s debut novel, for the production company. Rendered an overnight star, Mescal will next be seen opposite Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley and Dakota Johnson in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s The Lost Daughter.
Edgar-Jones was also nominated for best actress and Normal People was up for best mini-series at the most important television awards in Britain and Ireland. The series received four nominations at the British Academy Television Craft Awards, presented in May.
This marks the culmination of an extraordinary journey for Normal People. First broadcast in late April of 2020, the show, detailing the awkward, sometimes painful relationship between two young people in contemporary Ireland, immediately became the signature hit of the first lockdown. BBC Three registered its best ever streaming figures with the show and, when Normal People arrived on domestic television, it became the most-watched opening of a drama series on the RTÉ Player. It went on to receive three Primetime Emmy nominations in late 2020 and two Golden Globe nominations earlier this year.
This year’s Bafta television awards were presented by Richard Ayoade in a ceremony that combined the virtual with the physical.