Highlights
- Cooper, 16, became the youngest best supporting actor winner in Bafta TV history.
- Gaza: Doctors Under Attack won current affairs after the BBC dropped it over impartiality concerns.
- Martin Lewis and Dame Mary Berry gave the night's most emotional speeches.
The win was part of a remarkable evening for Adolescence. The drama took four awards in total, more than any single show has ever won at the ceremony in one year.
It claimed best limited series alongside acting prizes for Cooper, Stephen Graham and Christine Tremarco.
Cooper plays a teenage boy accused of killing a female classmate. He already holds an Emmy, a Golden Globe and several other major awards for the role.
On Sunday he added a Bafta. In his speech, he kept it simple but memorable, quoting John Lennon: "You won't get anything unless you have the vision to imagine it."
He told the room that success came down to three things: "an obsession, a dream, and the Beatles."
Graham won his first BAFTA at the eighth attempt and said acting was within reach for young viewersGetty Images
Graham, who plays Cooper's on-screen father, finally won his first Bafta at his eighth attempt. He spoke directly to young people watching at home, telling them acting was within reach.
"We're not digging holes, we're not saving lives, but we have the opportunity to tell the human condition," he said.
He ended his speech the same way Cooper did, with a Beatles line: "All we need is love." Tremarco won best supporting actress for playing the boy's mother, completing a full cast sweep for the show.
Stories beyond the stage
The evening had several moments that went well beyond the trophy count. Narges Rashidi, who was born in Iran, won best leading actress for playing British-Iranian woman Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in BBC One's Prisoner 951.
Accepting the award, Rashidi dedicated it to Zaghari-Ratcliffe, praising her resilience, dignity and courageGetty Images
Accepting the award, Rashidi spoke directly to her: "Your resilience, your dignity, your love through impossible circumstances have moved us all. Your courage will stay with me for the rest of my life. This is for you."
ITV's Code of Silence, starring Rose Ayling-Ellis as a deaf woman who helps police using her lip reading skills, won best drama.
The Celebrity Traitors, which pulled in more than 15 million viewers last year, won best reality programme. Host Claudia Winkleman dedicated the award to the cast.
Prime Video's Last One Laughing won best entertainment programme, with Bob Mortimer taking best entertainment performance for keeping a straight face while making rivals crack.
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack won the current affairs prize despite a difficult road to air. The BBC had shelved it the previous year, saying it had concerns about impartiality. Channel 4 broadcast it instead.
At the ceremony, producer Ben de Pear addressed the BBC directly from the stage, asking if it would now drop the film from its own Bafta screening later that night.
Dame Mary Berry, 91, received the Bafta Fellowship, the highest honour the organisation gives.
She called herself simply "a cook and a teacher" and said she felt honoured. She thanked her three children, pausing to remember her son William, who died in a road accident in 1989 when he was just 19. "William is in heaven, but I thank him," she said.
