Bafta tribute for Kate Beckinsale’s stepfather confirmed after she voices 'broken heart'

Actress Kate Beckinsale said she was “paralysed and sickened” before Bafta guaranteed a tribute to her stepfather Roy Battersby at the TV ceremony.

Underworld film series star Beckinsale said she was sent an email from the TV and film awards saying that he will be considered for being part of the in memoriam segment for the TV awards ceremony, but it was not guaranteed.

Director Battersby, who won the Alan Clarke Award for outstanding contribution to television in 1996, died aged 87 earlier this month.

He was known for his work on crime series Cracker, Between The lines, Inspector Morse and A Touch Of Frost and Tim Roth-starring BBC drama King Of The Ghetto.

A Bafta spokesman called Battersby “a renowned and trailblazing director”, and said the awards show was “sorry to hear” of his death.

The statement added: “We confirm he will be honoured in our forthcoming Bafta television awards in May, and on the in memoriam section on our website.”

Prior to Bafta’s announcement, Beckinsale wrote in an lengthy Instagram post on Thursday: “Today Bafta told me they ‘could not guarantee’ he (Roy) would be included in their “in memoriam” tribute, to honour the industry members we have lost.

“So a man dead less than a week somehow has to audition in front of a committee after a decades long career in which he has been awarded from said organisation (that has awarded him the highest accolade they have) to decide if his death is worth mentioning.

“If his work, his life, his craft, his mentoring, his heart and soul are worthy of a mention that he is gone.

“That, that has broken my heart all over again. I am paralysed, sick and sickened and I will honour him and his work every day of my life.”

Bafta’s in memoriam segment runs during its film and TV award ceremonies.

Beckinsale also hailed Battersby’s “incredible work” on Leeds United!, about a female textile mill strike in the 1970s, science and technology series Tomorrow’s World and school-set series Roll On Four O’Clock.

She also wrote that her mother, the actress Judy Loe – who has many TV credits including Inspector Morse and Space Island One – has “been gracefully and quietly dealing with stage four cancer for the last six years and just lost her husband so thanks again, Bafta for your horribly cold email”.

Beckinsale also shared an image on her Instagram stories of what she said was an email from Bafta, which read: “All names we gather during the course of the year are brought before Bafta’s Obituaries Committee, which meets to compile the Awards In Memoriam segment – Film, Television or Television Craft – but we are never able to make any guarantees of inclusion.

“Roy’s Bafta win falls within Television and as these Awards take place in May, the In Memoriam will be discussed in spring. All good wishes.”

Her post also coincided with the Thursday announcement of the Bafta film award nominations, which saw Oppenheimer lead on 11 nods.

The Bafta television awards will be held on May 12.

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