Mark Lewis Jones and Julie Gardner MBE honoured at 2024 BAFTA Cymru Awards

Mark Lewis Jones has been revealed as one of the Special Awards recipients for this year’s BAFTA Cymru Awards, and has called for an end to cuts to arts and cultural institutions which are ‘an integral part of our nation’s identity’.

Actor Mark Lewis Jones, who has appeared in critically-acclaimed films and television dramas during his 38-year acting career, will become the eighteenth recipient of the Siân Phillips Award at the BAFTA Cymru Awards on 20 October 2024.

The Siân Phillips Award, presented to a Welsh individual who has made significant contributions to film and/or television.

Mark’s many appearances include Welsh dramas Stella, Keeping Faith, and Dal y Mellt, the first Welsh language series to feature on Netflix.  He is also known for globally recognised programmes The Crown, Gangs of London and Baby Reindeer. He is one of the stars of BBC drama Men Up, nominated in six categories at this year’s BAFTA Cymru Awards.

Previous Siân Phillips Award recipients include: actress Rakie Ayola, director Euros Lyn, actor Rhys Ifans, writer Russell T Davies, actor Michael Sheen, actor Ioan Gruffudd and writer/actress/producer Ruth Jones.

National identity

Mark Lewis Jones said: “I am delighted to be honoured with this award, diolch BAFTA Cymru. I was born and bred in Rhosllanerchrugog near Wrexham and come from a family with no connection to the arts or creative industries but I was very fortunate to receive opportunities and support, for which I am very grateful. I fear that a young Mark Lewis Jones might not get the same opportunities that I did.

“Arts and culture are the backbone of our society and an integral part of our nation’s identity. The consequences of de-funding any arts organisations and initiatives are immeasurable.

“I feel especially honoured to receive this award in the name of someone who has shown such courage and tenacity throughout her extraordinary career and hope dearly that I will be able to use this platform to help and inspire others to realise their dreams.”

High honour

The BAFTA Cymru Outstanding Contribution Award will be presented to former BBC Wales Head of Drama and producer Julie Gardner, MBE, who co-founded Bad Wolf in 2015.

One of BAFTA Cymru’s highest honours, this year’s Award is presented to a Welsh individual who has made an outstanding contribution to Television, Film or Games.

Early in Julie’s career, she co-produced Andrew Davies’ BAFTA-nominated modern retelling of Othello, which went on to win three prestigious Banff Film Festival awards – the Banff Rockie Award, Grand Prize and International Critics’ Prize in 2002.

As Head of Drama at BBC Wales she produced the 2005 revival of Doctor Who, which she brought to Wales, with Phil Collinsonand Russell T Davies, which also went on to win a Drama Series Award at the 2006 BAFTA Television Awards.

In 2006, Julie produced Russell T Davies’ Doctor Who spin-offs Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. At BBC Wales Drama, she oversaw several independent productions, including Life on Mars, Merlin, Ashes to Ashes, Stuart: A Life Backwardsand Emmy winning Girl in A Café.

In 2009, Julie relocated to Los Angeles from her native Glynneath to lead BBC Worldwide Productions and Adjacent Productions with Jane Tranter.

They produced several series including an American adaptation of Getting On for HBO and Da Vinci’s Demons for Starz, which they launched in 2013, locating production in South Wales. Julie was the recipient of the Siân Phillips Award at the BAFTA Cymru Awards 2013.

Julie and Jane launched Bad Wolf in 2015, with Julie now running Bad Wolf America.

In 2020 Julie produced Lucy Prebble & Billie Piper’s I Hate Suzie for Bad Wolf, in association with Sky Studios. It was nominated for a Drama Series Award at the 2021 BAFTA Television Awards and, in 2023, received the Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Drama Mini Series; the RTS Television Award for Drama Writer and the TV Scholar Award for Best Lead Performance in a Comedy. Julie produced The Winter King last year for ITVX and MGM+ and National Television Awards-nominated, Red Eye for ITV.

In the US, Bad Wolf America’s production debut Lady in the Lake, a limited series executively co-produced with Christopher Leggett and Layne Eskridge and starring Natalie Portman and Moses Ingram, written and directed by Alma Har’el, recently launched on Apple TV, with Fifth Season as the studio.

In the US, Julie is in development on future projects with Sony, Legendary, Skydance and Fifth Season. In the UK, Julie is currently working on Doctor Who spin-off, The War Between The Land And The Sea. Written by Russell T Davies and Pete McTighe, this is a Bad Wolf production with BBC Studios. Julie is also currently preparing a second season of Red Eye.

Doctor Who has received five BAFTA Cymru Awards nominations this year.

Julie Gardner MBE said: “Being the recipient of this prestigious Welsh award means the world to me, diolch BAFTA. From the moment I was given the job as BBC Head of Drama Wales in 2003, my mission was to bring projects into Wales The skills, passion, commitment and work ethic of people in Wales, is unbeatable.

Highest calibre

Angharad Mair, BAFTA Cymru Chair, said: “These two awards go to individuals of the highest calibre. Wales is proving once again that we not only have amazing talent in Wales, but that we’re creating work of the highest quality…

“Likewise, Julie has made a huge contribution here and internationally, and we are looking forward to honouring both Mark and Julie on 20 October.”

The BAFTA Cymru Awards operate on a not-for-profit basis and tickets for the Ceremony are available to buy at events.bafta.org. The Ceremony will be live streamed for those unable to attend at https://www.youtube.com/bafta.