Steve Coogan Shares Insights on Helena Bonham Carter’s Exit from White Lotus
At the BAFTA TV Awards held at London’s Royal Festival Hall, comedian Steve Coogan shared details about his co-star Helena Bonham Carter’s sudden departure from the fourth series of White Lotus. The 60-year-old comedian spoke about the unexpected exit ahead of his win for Actor In A Comedy for his role in How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge).
Helena left the HBO show after only three days of filming due to disagreements over her character, which has since been rewritten for Laura Dern. However, a source suggested that the star’s departure may have been linked to a “clash” with one of her co-stars. Speaking on the red carpet to Deadline, Steve said, “It just went in a different direction. Sometimes you find that something isn’t working the way you want it to, in terms of the character and the dynamic of the whole story.” He added, “So that was just a mutual decision… The whole part was rewritten from scratch.”
During his speech at the ceremony, Steve joked about the future of his iconic character Alan Partridge, saying, “If anyone wants to know when Alan Partridge is going to die, it’s probably about the same time as I am going to die – I will keep doing it.” He also highlighted the importance of comedy in challenging times, stating, “Doing comedy in times like this is so important and it’s a privilege to make people laugh. I’m not going to be very funny because my comedy writers haven’t written anything funny for me to say.”
A source close to the White Lotus production claimed that Helena left due to a conflict with Sandra Bernhard. However, Helena’s team denied the claim, stating that the two had never met, though they did not elaborate on what actually happened.
The hit HBO series follows a group of characters at a luxury holiday resort, with each series set in a different location and featuring a new cast. The latest season is primarily set at the Airelles Chateau de la Messardiere in Saint-Tropez, France.
Owen Cooper Makes History at BAFTA
Sunday’s ceremony saw Owen Cooper continue his award-winning streak at the British Academy Television Awards. The 16-year-old actor made history by becoming the youngest winner of the Best Supporting Actor award at both the Golden Globes and the Emmy Awards. He took home the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor.
His onscreen mother, Christine Tremarco, won Best Supporting Actress in a surprise result, beating co-star Erin Doherty, who had previously won the Golden Globe and Emmy Award.
Nominations were announced in March, with Stephen Graham leading the way with 11 nominations for his drama Adolescence and seven for his Disney+ series, A Thousand Blows, for which he is an executive producer.
Adolescence, created by actor Stephen and writer Jack Thorne, tells the story of British teenager Jamie Miller, who is found guilty of murdering a female classmate after being influenced by the manosphere online. Each episode is filmed in one continuous shot and has been praised for addressing topics such as online radicalisation and misogyny. The series won in the Limited Drama category, beating shows like Fought The Law (ITV), Trespasses (Channel 4), and What It Feels Like For A Girl (BBC Three).
Producer Mark Herbert of Warp films said, “Big thanks to Stephen Graham for bringing this gang together. The script ripped our hearts and it punched us in the guts.” He also thanked Netflix boss Anne Mensah, who picked up the project after Amazon Prime Video had passed on it.
Amandaland Wins BAFTA for Scripted Comedy
Amandaland, starring Lucy Punch, won the BAFTA for scripted comedy. Writer Holly Walsh expressed her delight when people mentioned watching the show with their children. She said, “We can all enjoy watching a posh woman from Chiswick getting hit in the face with a football.”
However, Lucy missed out on the Actress In A Comedy gong, which went to Katherine Parkinson for her performance in BBC One’s Here We Go.
