Kate Beckinsale has rejected an apology from BAFTA after being told that they “could not guarantee” that her late stepfather would be included in their ‘In Memoriam’ segment this year.
Beckinsale’s stepfather Roy Battersby was a prolific television director who worked on shows including Cracker, A Touch of Frost and Inspector Morse. He married Beckinsale’s mother Judy Loe, and passed away on January 10 at the age of 87.
On the day that this year’s BAFTA Film Award nominations were announced, Beckinsale took to Instagram to reveal that she had been informed by the organisation that they could not assure her that he would be honoured in the montage of those that have died in the past year.
“So a man dead less than a week somehow has to audition in front of a committee after a decades long career (in which he has been awarded from said organisation the highest accolade they have) to decide IF his death is worth mentioning,” she wrote.
“If his work, his life, his craft, his mentoring, his heart and soul are worthy of a mention that he is gone. That has broken my heart all over again. I am paralysed, sick and sickened and I will honour him and his work every day of my life.”
Now, the actress has followed up on her comments, thanking those that have reached out to her, and redoubling her criticism of BAFTA.
“You may be aware that BAFTA has said he will be included in their segment. I have not heard from them, they have not apologised to me publicly or personally and just asked that my publicist relay an apology,” she wrote.
“I have received far too many DMs from family members of people in the British film industry who have passed away who received similarly cold emails and were equally distressed by them. 90 per cent of those who work in film and TV are working class people who are not necessarily well paid or particularly well treated.”
“In lieu of an apology which is now redundant, I would like a public and permanent assurance that BAFTA make a major change to their policy of wording emails to anyone who has been bereaved; whether that person is a DP, a sound or vfx technician, costume department, editor, electrician, grip or carpenter, let alone someone honoured in the way Roy had been.”
Battersby won BAFTA’s Alan Clarke Award in 1996 for his services to television.
“If BAFTA truly is an organisation that celebrates those who work in this industry , I want an assurance that this is the last time they send the family of ANY of its workers an email with such a dismissive and cold tone, whether ultimately the person in question is able to be included in the segment or not. And if not, the email needs to be doubly compassionate and celebratory of their contribution.
“My stepfather knew the name of every single person working on his set, from camera operator to caterer, and once stopped production because the focus puller hadn’t been paid. This is what he would have wanted. Thank you again x”
The BAFTA nominations were announced on Thursday (January 18), with Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer picking up a huge 13 nods, ahead of Barbie and Saltburn on five each.
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