Happy Valley, Top Boy and The Sixth Commandment were the big winning British dramas at the Bafta television awards on Sunday.
Her portrayal of no-nonsense Sgt Catherine Cawood in Sally Wainwright’s Yorkshire-set thriller Happy Valley saw Sarah Lancashire take the award for Best Leading Actress.
“I feel very, very privileged to have been surrounded by these brilliant actors and I thank each and every one of you," Lancashire said while collecting the gong.
She also thanked the BBC’s chief content officer Charlotte Moore and the broadcaster “for giving this very British drama a very British home”.
Sgt Cawood’s final kitchen showdown with James Norton’s Tommy Lee Royce in the series also won the P&O Cruises memorable moment award.
Gang drama Top Boy was named best drama series, while Jasmine Jobson was named Best Supporting Actress for her role as Jaq Lawrence in the series about the lives of two drug dealers on a Hackney estate.
Collecting her prize, Jobson said: “I don’t know what to say, I’m so overwhelmed. I was not expecting this.
“I just try to do what I do to change a life and save a life.”
Matthew Macfadyen won Best Supporting Actor for the final series of Succession, but the actor who played the ambitious Tom Wambsgans was not at the ceremony.
Timothy Spall took home Best Leading Actor for true crime series The Sixth Commandment, about the deaths of Peter Farquhar and Ann Moore-Martin in a quiet Buckinghamshire village.
“I didn’t actually write anything down. Look it all up on IMDB and you will see who was involved because to each and every soul of them, they are brilliant," the veteran star said.
“Acting is a stupid thing, it’s a soppy old thing, standing up pretending to be someone and pissing around in costume.
“Sixty-seven and you think ‘am I still doing this?’
“But sometimes you get the chance to play people that have had a terrible thing happen to them and all they wanted was love, and it’s a beautiful thing to be able to tell a story about that. It’s about crimes but it’s also about love.
“And when it makes a difference and we can all share in the human condition, some of it horrible and some of it beautiful and even though acting is a silly stupid thing, its lovely,”
“I’ve always wanted one of these. I’m just so pleased to be amongst you lot," he said, looking at his award.
The drama also won the Limited Series Bafta.
Strictly Come Dancing won the best entertainment prize in its 20th year on the air and co-host Tess Daly celebrated, saying it was “the best birthday present” to mark two decades on the BBC.
The show first aired in 2004 as a new incarnation of the professional ballroom show Come Dancing.
Collecting the gong, Daly said: “We are properly and genuinely overwhelmed. Thank you Bafta for making it worth putting on Spanx on the hottest day of the year.
Strictly defeated shows including Hannah Waddingham: Home For Christmas.
Awards hosts Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan looked bashful when their show Rob And Romesh Vs won the Comedy Entertainment Bafta.
Mawaan Rizwan won the award for Best Male Performance in a Comedy for his role in Juice, about a young gay man who desperately wants to be the centre of attention, but his family keep stealing his thunder.
Accepting the award, Rizwan said: “Thank you to my therapist – we had a conversation last week where we said I had to stop relying on external forms of validation.”
Gbemisola Ikumelo won Best Female Performance in a Comedy Bafta for Black Ops.
Collecting the award, she encouraged the audience to repeat her call of “Good is good,” and said: “That is how you know diversity is working.”
She also joked that her agent would be telling her next employers: “Yesterday’s price is not today’s price.”
Former Play School children’s presenter Baroness Floella Benjamin was presented with Bafta’s highest honour, the Fellowship, by newsreader Clive Myrie.
In a video tribute, Bafta president the Prince of Wales sent his “heartfelt congratulations” and said he wanted to say “thank you” to the children’s TV presenter and campaigner.
Collecting the trophy, Baroness Benjamin said: “I feel blessed as I stand on the summit of life’s mountain looking back on life’s journey.”
“I have been told. ‘Shut up or you’ll never work again’ when I spoke out, but my mission over the last 50 years has been to get broadcasters to have diversity and inclusion in their DNA."
Daytime stalwart Lorraine Kelly was also honoured at the ceremony with a special award.
Squid Game: The Challenge won the Reality Bafta, while The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 won the award for Best Coverage of a Live Event.
Khalid Abdalla scatters 14,000 sequins at awards in anti-war message
The Crown star Khalid Abdalla shared the anti-war message "stop arming Israel" at the Bafta TV awards.
The British actor scattered 14,000 red sequins at the London event, with each representing "a child that has been killed in Gaza" during the conflict which began on October 7.
Abdalla, who played Dodi Fayed in The Crown, wrote the words "stop arming Israel" on his hand and wore the Artists4Ceasefire red pin, which calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel.
On X, the 43-year-old actor wrote: "Every one of these 14,000 sequins is a child that has been killed in Gaza.
"Multiply that by 2.46 and you get the current death toll, over 34,500. Stop arming Israel."
It is not the first time Abdalla has made a political protest. He wrote the words "never again" on his hand at the Emmy Awards in January in reference to the Israel-Gaza war.
Abdalla was among several stars showing support for the Artists4Ceasefire campaign at the awards.
Succession star Brian Cox wore the red pin against the stark contrast of his all-white suit, while TV presenter and comedian Joe Lycett also appeared to have the pin on alongside his flowing silver cape and Elizabethan-style high ruff neck piece.
Steve Coogan, known as Alan Partridge, and Jimmy Savile in The Reckoning, also sported the pin.
The actor has condemned Hamas over what he called their "horrific and brutal" invasion of Israel as he defended a letter he signed to campaign for humanitarian support for Gaza.
Company profile
Date started: December 24, 2018
Founders: Omer Gurel, chief executive and co-founder and Edebali Sener, co-founder and chief technology officer
Based: Dubai Media City
Number of employees: 42 (34 in Dubai and a tech team of eight in Ankara, Turkey)
Sector: ConsumerTech and FinTech
Cashflow: Almost $1 million a year
Funding: Series A funding of $2.5m with Series B plans for May 2020
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Company Profile
Company name: OneOrder
Started: October 2021
Founders: Tamer Amer and Karim Maurice
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Industry: technology, logistics
Investors: A15 and self-funded
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Switching%20sides
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Bharat
Director: Ali Abbas Zafar
Starring: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Sunil Grover
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20IPHONE%2015%20PRO%20MAX
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The biog
Name: Greg Heinricks
From: Alberta, western Canada
Record fish: 56kg sailfish
Member of: International Game Fish Association
Company: Arabian Divers and Sportfishing Charters
THE BIO
Bio Box
Role Model: Sheikh Zayed, God bless his soul
Favorite book: Zayed Biography of the leader
Favorite quote: To be or not to be, that is the question, from William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Favorite food: seafood
Favorite place to travel: Lebanon
Favorite movie: Braveheart
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Last 10 NBA champions
2017: Golden State bt Cleveland 4-1
2016: Cleveland bt Golden State 4-3
2015: Golden State bt Cleveland 4-2
2014: San Antonio bt Miami 4-1
2013: Miami bt San Antonio 4-3
2012: Miami bt Oklahoma City 4-1
2011: Dallas bt Miami 4-2
2010: Los Angeles Lakers bt Boston 4-3
2009: Los Angeles Lakers bt Orlando 4-1
2008: Boston bt Los Angeles Lakers 4-2
Difference between fractional ownership and timeshare
Although similar in its appearance, the concept of a fractional title deed is unlike that of a timeshare, which usually involves multiple investors buying “time” in a property whereby the owner has the right to occupation for a specified period of time in any year, as opposed to the actual real estate, said John Peacock, Head of Indirect Tax and Conveyancing, BSA Ahmad Bin Hezeem & Associates, a law firm.
MATCH INFO
What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)
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French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
Porsche Macan T: The Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 265hp from 5,000-6,500rpm
Torque: 400Nm from 1,800-4,500rpm
Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch auto
Speed: 0-100kph in 6.2sec
Top speed: 232kph
Fuel consumption: 10.7L/100km
On sale: May or June
Price: From Dh259,900
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
Bio
Age: 25
Town: Al Diqdaqah – Ras Al Khaimah
Education: Bachelors degree in mechanical engineering
Favourite colour: White
Favourite place in the UAE: Downtown Dubai
Favourite book: A Life in Administration by Ghazi Al Gosaibi.
First owned baking book: How to Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson.
The biog
Siblings: five brothers and one sister
Education: Bachelors in Political Science at the University of Minnesota
Interests: Swimming, tennis and the gym
Favourite place: UAE
Favourite packet food on the trip: pasta primavera
What he did to pass the time during the trip: listen to audio books
Honeymoonish
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Elie%20El%20Samaan%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENour%20Al%20Ghandour%2C%20Mahmoud%20Boushahri%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
LOVE%20AGAIN
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Race card
4pm Al Bastakiya Listed US$300,000 (Dirt) 1,900m
4.35pm Mahab Al Shimaal Group 3 $350,000 (D) 1,200m
5.10pm Nad Al Sheba Turf Group 3 $350,000 (Turf) 1,200m
5.45pm Burj Nahaar Group 3 $350,000 (D) 1,600m
6.20pm Jebel Hatta Group 1 $400,000 (T) 1,800m
6.55pm Al Maktoum Challenge Round-3 Group 1 $600,000 (D) 2,000m
7.30pm Dubai City Of Gold Group 2 $350,000 (T) 2,410m
The National selections:
4pm Zabardast
4.35pm Ibn Malik
5.10pm Space Blues
5.45pm Kimbear
6.20pm Barney Roy
6.55pm Matterhorn
7.30pm Defoe
