SCOTTISH actor and comedian Karen Dunbar has said she was “gobsmacked” after winning a Bafta for her debut in the video games world.
Dunbar won best performer in a supporting role for Still Wakes the Deep, a first-person horror set on a Scottish oil rig in the 1970s, at the 21st Bafta Game Awards.
The star, who was born in Glasgow and grew up in Ayr, is best known for her role in the sketch comedy Chewin' The Fat.
She went viral on social media for her acceptance speech, where she said: “I'm not even an actor, I'm a gynaecologist. I'm an actor. I'm a Scottish actor.
“I have been nominated for many a Scottish Bafta and never won one. And yet here I am in the gaming community, thank you so much for this.”
Speaking to The National, Dunbar (below) – who has previously been nominated for both Bafta and Rose d’Or awards – said that she “didn’t expect to win”.
“When they announced the winner, I was looking around to see if Matt Berry was there, because he was nominated in the same category and I thought he’d probably win.
“I just kept laughing. It takes a lot to surprise me at 54, but aye, I was surprised.
“I was glad of the job that I did, I know I did a good job, but I didn’t expect to win it.”
‘I’ve named the Bafta Roberta’
Dunbar has already found a place in her home to put her Bafta – and has even named it.
She told The National: “Life goes on, nothing’s changed other than I’ve got a big heavy lump of metal on top of a plinth in my room.
“I’ve got a sound speaker which has got a really tall part on it, and I thought ‘I wonder if it fits on that’ – it actually sits square on it. When I saw it I was like, ‘there you are, that’s your house’.”
Dunbar has named her Bafta award Roberta, partly in memory of the late US singer Roberta Flack, who passed away in February.
She continued: “It’s an independent, wee indie game, and there were all these massive big hitters in that room.
“For an independent game to win, and the fact it was set in Scotland in 1975 on an oil rig, it’s not ticking any sexy boxes here.
“But it was so emotive, people were playing that game crying, and that’s a testament to the full creative talent that was behind the game.
“We were sitting there and we said if we win one, we’ll be over the moon. And then we won new intellectual property, and everybody was jumping up and down, so I was jumping up and down as well.
“Then I won and then Alec won best performer, and I nearly burst into flames at that point.”
Still Wakes the Deep won three awards in total. The only game to take home more awards was Sony’s family-friendly platformer Astro Bot which picked up five Baftas, including best game.
Reflecting on the media attention she has received since the awards ceremony, Dunbar said that she “loved [her] ignorance” towards gaming, particularly when she was asked by an interviewer who she would want to play next.
She recalled: “The only frame of reference I had was Sonic the Hedgehog, so I said Sonic’s mum. I thought I couldn’t play Sonic, obviously.”
Still Wakes the Deep follows offshore electrician Caz, played by fellow Scot Alec Newman, and his co-worker Finlay, played by Dunbar. The story is inspired by classic horror and science fiction films like John Carpenter's The Thing.
The pair are trapped on a damaged North Sea drilling platform in 1975 and are pursued by mysterious monsters while having to deal with dangerous weather conditions.
Players rely on stealthy gameplay and puzzle-solving to stay alive.
The game was developed by The Chinese Room and published by Secret Mode, and is available on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
