Michael Sheen awarded best actor prize at international TV festival

Michael Sheen has been awarded a trophy for best actor at an international TV festival for his performance in the BBC series ‘Best Interests’.

Series Mania took place in Lille, France on Friday and prize categories were judged by an international jury.

Sheen scooped the best actor award for his role in the thought provoking BBC drama ‘Best Interests’ by Bafta-winning writer Jack Thorne (His Dark Materials).

The actor from Port Talbot delivered an outstanding performance in the four-part series as a father named Andrew, alongside on screen wife Nicci – played by Sharon Horgan.

The story follows the couple as they take part in a legal fight against doctors, who believe their daughter should be allowed to die due to her suffering with a life threatening condition.

Award

The show mirrors several real life high profile cases and reflects on the devastating choices made in courts regarding ethical treatment of those suffering terminal illness.

Sheen spoke via video link to the Series Mania audience during the closing ceremony saying: “To work on anything that Jack Thorne has written is award enough.”

The festival brought together 3,800 series professionals from more than 60 countries for three days of networking and events.

Navid Javidi’s, Iranian production ‘The Actor’ won the grand prize of the final day after the festival opted to this year broaden its geographical reach in an effort to discover new narrative styles.