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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Entertainment

A look back at the Bafta TV Awards in all their Noughties glory

The 2020 Bafta TV Awards will be taking place tonight, having previously been delayed due to the ongoing coronvirus crisis.

The raging Covid-19 pandemic has now seen the celebrated award ceremony now take place behind closed-doors, with the winners only appearing over video link, as comedian Richard Ayoade hosts.

It may not be exactly like the glitzy awards ceremony we're used to seeing, but that's not to say TV Bafta will be without its usual helping of comedy, glamour and celebrity nominees.

As well as being one of the of the most prestigious events in the industry calendar, the TV Awards can be relied upon to give us a commendably eclectic guest list. Where else could you conceivably see a cohort of Love Islanders one second, then Sir David Attenborough the next?

This tendency towards the chaotic was never better seen than during the Noughties, when unlikely fellow attendees as Ant and Dec, Julie Walters and Dame Judi Dench were all mainstays of the event.

So in lieu of the 2020 ceremony, we've taken a look back at the event from 2000 to 2009 - an era of chunky highlights, handkerchief hem dresses and Gillian McKeith​. Scroll through the gallery above for a closer look at the red carpet goings-on...

2000

(Michael Crabtree/PA Archive/PA Images)

The first TV Awards of the new millennium saw a baby-faced Graham Norton pick up his first Bafta for chat show So Graham Norton while The Royle Family swept the comedy categories.

Speaking of baby faces, Ant and Dec’s matching black shirts and suits combo brought a touch of leavers’ disco glam to the red carpet.

2001

( William Conran/PA Archive/PA Images)

Jamie Oliver picked up the first of his Baftas for The Naked Chef, while Dame Judi Dench added yet another trophy to her already vast collection - the Best Actress gong for WWII drama The Last of the Blonde Bombshells (she already had three TV Baftas alone).

Fashion-wise, Carol Vorderman’s elbow-length pink gloves deserve an honourable mention for best supporting role.

2002

(Ian West/PA Archive/PA Images)

A good year for Ricky Gervais (who Brent-danced his way to two trophies for the first series of The Office), future Harry Potter stars (Julie Walters and Michael Gambon were crowned Best Actress and Best Actor respectively) and Pop Idol, which was named Best Entertainment Programme.

Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall added some transatlantic star power, too.

2003

( Ian West/PA Archive/PA Images)

Self-styled fashion gurus Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine made their BAFTA red carpet debut in 2003, not to dish out barbed remarks about guests’ outfits, but to accompany newsreader Sophie Rayworth, who they’d made over for a celebrity special of What Not To Wear.

Walters and The Office repeated the previous year’s success while I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here picked up a trophy for its first ever series.

2004

(Steve Finn/Getty Images)

Umbrellas on the red carpet are a sartorial mainstay of the Bafta Film Awards (pity the weather-averse Hollywood stars who make the journey on the awards circuit…) but this year they were essential for the rainy TV Awards too.

Walters scored her third consecutive win for the much-vaunted modern retelling of Chaucer’s Wife Of Bath (she’d go on to pick up another in 2010 for her portrayal of Mo Mowlam).

Gervais picked up two more trophies for The Office, thanks to its concluding Christmas special, as David Walliams and Matt Lucas landed their first major award for Little Britain.

2005

(Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

2005 saw Walliams and Lucas continue their winning streak, with Little Britain sweeping the comedy categories, and Coronation Street was crowned top soap (its stars gave a masterclass in mid-Noughties fashion on the red carpet, too).

2006

(Gareth Davies/Getty Images)

The Thick Of It, the first ever series of The X Factor, the David Tennant and Billie Piper iteration of Doctor Who and Andrew Davies’ brilliant adaptation of Bleak House - the 2006 TV Awards winners list made for excellent viewing.

And on the guest list? You Are What You Eat’s Gillian McKeith, Desperate Housewives’ Jesse Metcalfe and everyone in between.

2007

(Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

2007’s red carpet encapsulated the eclectic guest list we’ve come to expect from the TV Awards.

Joan Rivers photobombing Corrie’s Tina O’Brien? Sure. Kelly Osbourne in a prom dress? Why not. Celebrity Big Brother’s Chantelle Houghton? Absolutely.

Awards-wise, Jim Broadbent and Victoria Wood received the top honours of Best Actor and Actress, and in a move that hasn’t aged particularly well, Entourage was crowned Best International Show.

2008

Gavin and Stacey earned its first crop of awards, with James Corden receiving the trophy for Comedy Performance and the show picking up the Audience Award, voted for by the public.

A pre-Spiderman, pre-Social Network Andrew Garfield also received his first major award for his role in Boy A.

2009

(Tim Whitby/Getty Images)

Skins stars Kaya Scodelario and Hannah Murray represented E4’s groundbreaking teen show on the red carpet, eventually accepting the Audience Award on behalf of their cast mates.

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders were presented with the Bafta Fellowship by none other than Dame Helen Mirren, while this year’s dose of transatlantic star power came in the form of The OC’s Mischa Barton.

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