Leading actress Jodie Comer, Killing Eve – BBC One Glenda Jackson, Elizabeth is Missing – BBC One – WINNER! Suranne Jones, Gentleman Jack – BBC One Samantha Morton, I Am Kirsty – Channel 4
Leading actor Stephen Graham, The Virtues – Channel 4 Jared Harris, Chernobyl – Sky Atlantic – WINNER! Takehiro Hira, Giri/Haji – BBC Two Callum Turner, The Capture – BBC One
Supporting actress Naomi Ackie, The End of the F***ing World – Channel 4 – WINNER! Helen Behan, The Virtues – Channel 4 Helena Bonham Carter, The Crown – Netflix Jasmine Jobson, Top Boy – Netflix
Naomi Ackie – Winner!
Supporting actor Joe Absolom, A Confession – ITV Josh O’Connor, The Crown – Netflix Will Sharpe, Giri/Haji – BBC Two – WINNER! Stellan Skarsgard, Chernobyl – Sky Atlantic
Entertainment performance Frankie Boyle, Frankie Boyle’s New World Order – BBC Two Mo Gilligan, The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan – Channel 4 – WINNER! Lee Mack, Would I Lie to You – BBC One Graham Norton, The Graham Norton Show – BBC One
Male performance in a comedy programme Jamie Demetriou, Stath Lets Flats – Channel 4 – WINNER! Ncuti Gatwa, Sex Education – Netflix Youssef Kerkour, Home – Channel 4 Guz Khan, Man Like Mobeen – BBC Three
Female performance in a comedy programme Sian Clifford, Fleabag – BBC Three – WINNER! Gbemisola Ikumelo, Famalam – BBC Three Sarah Kendall, Frayed – Sky One Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fleabag – BBC Three
EOTFW
Drama series The Crown – Netflix The End Of The F***Ing World – Channel 4 – WINNER! Gentleman Jack – BBC One Giri/Haji – BBC Two
Phoebe Waller-Bridge tops a list of the biggest stars on television – but who else makes this year’s rundown?
Who has captured the imagination of TV viewers in the past year? Which stars are at the top of broadcasters’ wish lists, who landed the biggest roles, and who masterminded the moments that had you glued to your screen?
The Radio Times TV 100 put those questions to some of the most powerful television executives and broadcasting veterans who suggested names they thought should be included – and the final 100 was selected by a RadioTimes.com panel of editors.
The result is a rundown of 100 TV stars who’ve had a tremendous past 12 months. See the full list below…
1. Phoebe Waller-Bridge
“Phoebe is a phenomenal force of nature who has taken the world by storm with her breathtakingly original voice (creations Fleabag and Killing Eve). She’s an utterly unique writer and performer whose emotional honesty and mischievous wit constantly surprises and captures the zeitgeist, and leaves the audience only craving more. I can’t wait to see what she’s done to 007!” CHARLOTTE MOORE – BBC’s Director of Content
2. Stephen Graham
“Stephen has been giving us captivating and vivid performances on screen for years. He excels at bringing humanity to complex, challenging characters, which he manages to imbue with absolute truth and credibility. From This Is England to Save Me, he has shown what a brave and emotionally inquisitive actor he is. He gives himself over to each role completely, and as an audience, you can’t help but respond in kind.
“This year feels like a defining moment. His portrayal of Joseph in Shane Meadow’s The Virtues was astonishing. It completely blew my mind. And to move from that into playing Anthony Provenzano in Scorsese’s The Irishman, shows just how vast his range is. The rest of the world is finally waking up to his immense talent and audience appeal. I can’t wait to see what he does next.” NIRA PARK – TV and Film Producer
3. Rylan Clark-Neal
“Rylan has a brilliant connection with the audience, he’s naughty and warm but incredibly sharp too. He brings something fresh to our screens with that elusive human touch.” CHARLOTTE MOORE – BBC’s Director of Content
4. Ashley Walters
“Ashley Walters is a true Renaissance man – a gifted actor, musician, father, brilliant collaborator, leader, friend-and this year, all his myriad talents were on full display, including his stunning return as Dushane Hill in Top Boy.” ARIA MOFFLY – Netflix content executive
5. Emily Maitlis
“Emily was already having a fantastic year. As lead presenter of Newsnight, she’d brought renewed urgency and clarity, making the show unmissable again. Who will forget her exceptional interview on College Green with a tearful Nicholas Soames and rueful Ken Clarke as they reflected on the abrupt end to their long careers as Tory MPs? But then, together with producer Samantha McAlister, she landed and delivered the scoop of the year. Her interview with Prince Andrew made for spellbinding television and was a masterclass in long form interrogative journalism. The nation was gripped. Brilliant.” PATRICK HOLLAND – Controller BBC Two
6. Stacey Dooley
“Stacey’s star rose to new heights on prime time TV as she held aloft the Strictly Come Dancing glitter ball in December last year. But since then her career has gone from strength to strength with hard-hitting documentaries on the BBC and her own investigative series on W. Add to that entertainment formats and regular presenting gigs, and you have a year that has demonstrated the versatility of Stacey as a journalist, presenter and broadcaster.” TIM GLANFIELD – Editorial Director, RadioTimes.com
7. Motsi Mabuse
“While she’s been a familiar face to German audiences since her debut on their version of Strictly Come Dancing in 2007, in this country 2019 has seen Motsi go from relative unknown to one of the queens of Saturday night, showcasing her effervescent personality – and killer dance moves – as a judge on the biggest entertainment show on British TV. Now that’s what I call a good year.” PAUL JONES – Executive Editor, RadioTimes.com
8. Jodie Comer
“Jodie Comer inhabited the role of [Killing Eve’s] Vilanelle with a bravura that captured everyone’s attention and hearts.” PHILLIPPA GILES – Managing Director, Bandit TV
9. Vicky McClure
“Vicky’s got the incredibly rare combination of star quality and down-to-earth authenticity that sets her apart as an actor. She brings warmth, honesty and empathy to every performance.” JED MERCURIO – Line of Duty creator/writer [ . . . ]
The Killing Eve star tells Rebecca Nicholson about gut instincts, social media and why she’s a big softie at heart
The day after she won her Bafta, Jodie Comer watched Game of Thrones with her brother and had a burger for breakfast. Granted, it was the middle of the afternoon, but they’d had a big night. She had picked up the award, amid stiff competition, for leading actress, for playing the flamboyant and seductive psychopath Villanelle in Killing Eve. “As soon as they said my name, I pulled my really ugly crying face,” she says, pulling her best ugly crying face. “I felt like, oh God, I’m such a cliché! I had to pick my dress up because it was too long and I was going up the steps, crying.” She shakes her head, embarrassed. “Such a cliché. But I’ve always gone, oh my God, imagine. Imagine that happening. And then it does.”
I meet Comer two days later, the day after the day after, when breakfast has reverted to usual hours. We’re in a stuffy meeting room at her agency in London, because she’s been in meetings all day. There’s a Killing Eve launch tonight, then she’ll head back to Boston in the morning, to shoot Free Guy, a new action comedy with Ryan Reynolds. She’s only back in the UK briefly, and she’s had a lot to squash in.
“I am tired, but it’s self-inflicted,” Comer says, warmly. “I can’t complain that I’m being overworked.” She is bare-faced, in a neon lime lycra T-shirt, and wriggling like an eel. Her hair is loose and occasionally ends up in her mouth. When she really wants to make a point, she slumps forward, hands on the table, open and expansive, and looks at you with those huge, sincere eyes, lifting an eyebrow, fashioning her elastic face into a flash of Villanelle.
Tell me about the afterparty. “The first time I went to the Baftas, it was crazy,” she says. At an afterparty in 2017, she was introduced to Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who wrote and ran the first season of Killing Eve. This year ended up being a little tamer. “But I mean, I say this. Me, my dad, my brother and my mum were still up at 6am drinking champagne,” she laughs.
Comer is extremely close to her family. She grew up in Childwall, a suburb in the south of Liverpool, and her dad is a sports massage therapist for Everton FC. (Her brother Charlie works for Huddersfield FC as an analyst, “so my mum’s like, we’ve got to support both now, cos it’s Charlie’s work.”) She was bereft when they had to get the train back to Liverpool, though they did take her Bafta home with them for safekeeping. “I’ve got pictures on my phone,” she says, grinning, showing me photos of the award out in the wild, next to a bottle of champagne left over from the celebrations.
They have decided to call the Bafta “Billy”. “I don’t know why,” she says, pulling a goofy face. “My dad had it out on the train, and this woman went: ‘That’s not from Poundland, is it?’ This other woman said: ‘Is that the real thing?’ He said, ‘Yeah, do you want to touch it?’” She flicks through her camera roll, pictures of it in the pubs of Liverpool. “They took it on a pub crawl. They were so proud.” [ . . . ]
