Kayleigh Llewellyn’s Welsh television drama In My Skin won awards for Best Drama Series and Best Writer: Drama at the 2022 BAFTAs.
Hosted by actor and comedian Richard Ayoade, Sunday evening’s BAFTA Television Awards saw Welsh BBC drama In My Skin beat ITV’s Unforgotten and BBC’s Vigil to the 2022 award for Best Drama Series.
Showing admirable awe during her acceptance speech, writer Kayleigh Llewellyn began by saying, ‘when I was little, I used to say to [my mum], when I grow up I’m going to have a limousine, I’m going to have a water bed and I’m going to win a BAFTA. One out of three ain’t bad!’ as the audience applauded. The writer went on to describe how although the show had originally been picked up by the BBC as a ‘comedy slice’, they ‘didn’t flinch when [she] very clearly handed in drama scripts’. After commending her female-majority team, Llewellyn ended her speech with a satirical, ‘[please], equal opportunities for men’.
Llewellyn was also awarded the BAFTA for Writer: Drama at the British Academy Television Craft Awards, beating Jack Thorne (Help, Channel 4), Jesse Armstrong (Succession, HBO) and Russell T Davies (It’s A Sin, Channel 4).
In My Skin is a coming-of-age story set in Cardiff which follows the life of teenager Bethan. Played by Gabrielle Creevy, Bethan lives a double life as she comes to terms with her mother’s mental illness, friendships and her own sexuality. The show has received a number of other awards in its short history, including Best Actress at BAFTA Cymru for Creevy and Drama Series awards at the RTS Programme Awards.
Series One and Two of In My Skin are available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.
Find out more about Kayleigh Llewellyn and her experiences writing for television in her interview with Caragh Medlicott.