Bafta have been slammed for omitting the late, great Bernard Cribbins from their ‘stars that we lost’ feature during their awards ceremony on Sunday night.
Each year, the independent British arts charity has a tribute section during its glitzy evening to remember all those celebrities who passed away in the previous 12 months. And despite the Oldham-born legend of the stage, screen and everything else – who died last July – being a hugely popular figure in the UK for decades, his passing was surprisingly overlooked, with his exclusion savaged by viewers.
The much-loved Cribbins had been entertaining the British public since the early 1950s right up to his death last year, as a singer, presenter and actor, appearing in a couple of Carry On films, as well as The Railway Children, Dr Who, Fawlty Towers, Coronation Street and, more recently, Old Jack's Boat, while also being the voice of The Wombles and appearing in a plethora of other movies and TV shows. He had two top-10 hits in the 60s too with ‘Hole In The Ground’ and ‘Right Said Fred’. He died on July 27 last year, just under a year after his wife Gillian passed away.
But there was no mention of Cribbins during Bafta's in memoriam slot, which did feature the likes of Anne Heche, Olivia Newton-John, William Hurt and Robbie Coltrane. And viewers were left exasperated at his non-inclusion with Railway Children co-star Sally Thomsett one of the first to voice her criticism.
She wrote on Twitter: “Have watched The BAFTA on TV and I’m absolutely appalled that the fabulous Bernard Cribbins was not mentioned in stars that we’ve lost within the last year. They should be disgusted with themselves, words fail me.”
Her tweet garnered over 117,000 views, with more than 4,000 people liking her tweets to which one person replied: “If anybody straddled the different worlds of entertainment and ages – it was the multi-faceted and talented Bernard Cribbins. Talk about a national treasure, I can’t believe he wasn’t mentioned.”
Another in full agreement added: “Oh Sally. I am gobsmacked by this unfortunate omission. The BAFTA people should be thoroughly ashamed and contrite.”
Another said: “Considering the contribution Bernard made to UK entertainment over all those years too. Then yes Sally, it’s absolutely disgraceful and extremely disrespectful to the memory of the late, great Bernard Cribbins.”
BAFTA responded to the criticism, putting out a statement which read: “With limited time in our broadcast it isn’t possible to honour all those who have sadly passed away. Bernard features in our online records… and given his influential work in TV, he will be considered for inclusion in the next Television Awards broadcast.”
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This only served to ramp up the vitriol, with one person writing: “Utter rubbish. With a career as long, varied and wonderful as his – films, TV, drama, comedy, children’s TV etc – he should have been one of the top picks for this segment, not someone knocked of the end due to “time restrictions”. Appalling.”
Someone else added: “You should have cut the embarrassing chats with Alison Hammond, silent excruciating pauses, then you’d have had time. What a shambles.”
Last word goes to Twitter user Claire Hutcheson, who wrote: “I reckon BAFTA are just snobs. Bernard Cribbins was one of our most gifted comedic actors and BAFTA failed to honour his passing.
“He didn't have famous acting parents or a trust fund. He was a genuine talent who had no pretensions. BAFTA should be ashamed.”
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