2014 BAFTA TV Awards Red Carpet Report

Two posters designed by Liga.

Two posters designed by Liga.

(You can see a larger pic by clicking on each image.)

As soon as Liga heard that Nicola had earned her first BAFTA Awards nomination, for her role as Gillian in Last Tango in Halifax (series 2), she set about designing things for use when she and her friends go to the red carpet to cheer Nicola on come 19 May 2014. The designs centred on all things related to a sheep farmer, as you will see from the photos below, since that is how Gillian makes a living in the show.

T-ShirtOn Saturday, i.e. the day before Awards night, the gang went to see A View from the Bridge and met with Nicola after the play ended. They showed Nicola the T shirt which she designed for all team members to wear when they arrive on the red carpet. The T shirt features a drawing of Nicola made by Liga which incorporates a few things we know about Nicola, as an actress and as an all round nice person.

In a nod to Nicola’s past role as Ruth Evershed in Spooks, the cartoon character wore a hand gun in her garter belt. Although the cartoon character wore an evening gown, she had Converse sneakers on instead of the usual high heels. Nicola is usually found in sneakers and jeans in her “off duty” hours. Nicola liked the T shirt, and laughed at the Converse sneakers. She said that she’d probably bring some sneakers with her in case the high heels became uncomfortable. Nicola told Liga and friends that she would be wearing a black dress on Awards night. She said that she didn’t think that she would win the BAFTA this year, though she sounded hopeful that she’ll win next year!

All for one and one for all!!!

All for one and one for all!!!

Bright and early on Sunday morning, the gang went to the red carpet area outside the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane in order to queue for wrist bands. You are not allowed into the “pens”, the area set aside for fans and the press, unless you got allocated a wrist band which must be worn at all times whilst in the pens area. As the day progressed, the crowds grew larger and larger and things became more and more chaotic. In the end, part of the gang got separated, with the result that some people stayed at one end of the red carpet area whilst the rest of the group stayed at the other end.

NW Dress

Nicola arrived with her agent, Rebecca Blond, as her companion for the evening. She was also with Sarah Lancashire, Anne Reid and some of the producers of Last Tango in Halifax. She was indeed wearing a black evening gown, which had a plunging neckline and revealed a fair bit of her cleavage. Nicola’s never been seen in public before in such a revealing dress. She looked sensational!

NW-on-red-carpet

After Nicola stopped to talk to some of the fans who were stationed at one end of the red carpet, she walked down the red carpet in search of the other members of the group. She knew that they would all be there and wondered what had happened to the rest of the group. In order to search for the others, Nicola had to walk past a group of professional paparazzi who were all busy shouting out the names of the celebrities who were arriving in order to take their photos. If you’ve ever been to one of these red carpet events, or watched this on TV, you will know that this can get very loud and annoying. Nicola tried to avoid having her photo taken and so she power walked towards Liga’s friends with her hand covering her face. It was very funny to watch this.

Tractor-balloon

Treena Tumblr pic

Once she found the second group of fans, Nicola saw some of the other items which Liga had prepared for the occasion. There was the tractor balloon, which Nicola was very impressed with, and the sheep hand puppets which the gang were holding. Nicola adored the hand puppets so much that she ended up taking one with her. She probably would have liked to take the tractor balloon as well but it was too big and wouldn’t fit in her seat inside the theatre!

Sheep-puppets

NW-w-Sheep-Puppet

Nicola thanked everyone for coming to the red carpet and told the gang that they were all “amazing”. The chat with Nicola was very short as she had to go inside the theatre to be seated for the ceremony.

NW-w-Team

The tractor balloon went home with Liga. However, as soon as Liga found out that Nicola did not win in her category, she destroyed the balloon when she got to Liverpool Street Tube Station. 🙁

Nicola may not have won the award on this occasion, but there is no doubt that she’s got some of the best fans in the world!!!

22 May 2014

Karen Lewis, one of the producers of Last Tango in Halifax, posted this pic of 3 Brilliant Women on Twitter today :

©Karen Lewis 3 Brilliant Women

©Karen Lewis
3 Brilliant Women

Given that it was still bright outside the place where the photo was taken, we assume that it was taken before the award ceremony took place.

Ed’s note 1 : the red carpet report is compiled with information found on Twitter and in emails sent to the Editor after Liga and friends had time to recover from their little adventure. Once again, we thank Liga and friends for sharing their experience and photos with the rest of us.

Ed’s note 2 : We took the pics of Nicola admiring the tractor balloon from Treena on Tumblr. We tried to get in touch with Treena in order to get her clearance for us to use the photos on this website. But we haven’t heard from Treena as we went to press. If Treena is reading this and has any objections to us using her photos, please let us know. If you’re a friend of Treena’s, please can you ask Treena to get in touch with us soon.

If you’re interested in owning a Liga original T Shirt, we’re taking a straw poll on this Page to see if something can be done.