RED ROAD towered above its rivals at the Lloyds TSB Bafta Scotland Awards ceremony last night, winning an incredible five honours and rapturous applause from a galaxy of Scottish screen stars.
Andrea Arnold's tale of a lonely female CCTV operator set in Glasgow's notorious Red Road f lats, saw off competition from The Flying Scotsman and True North to collect all of the "big five" awards, including best film.
Arnold won best director and best screenplay for her debut feature-length movie, while the film's stars Tony Curran and Kate Dickie won best actor and actress awards for their performances.
The film's creator was not at Glasgow's City Halls. Instead she was in the Middle East, honouring a commitment to help aspiring screen writers in Jordan.
Speaking before the ceremony, on the red carpet, Kate Dickie said Arnold was "gutted" not to be there. "She had made a commitment and she felt she didn't want to let people down. I wish she could be here with us tonight.
"To be recognised like this is amazing."
Dickie then revealed her next project would be not in Hollywood but in theatre - a role in a forthcoming National Theatre of Scotland production.
"The part really excited me and for me that's what acting is all about, " she said.
Arnold was one of the only big names in Scottish film and television not present at the ceremony, which attracted a level of glitz and celebrity never before seen at the Scottish Baftas.
The red carpet was graced by the likes of Gail Porter, Carol Smillie, Robbie Coltrane and Billy Boyd, who were rewarded for braving the awful weather with a gift bag which included jewellery and Lancome perfume for the ladies, and cashmere gloves for the gents.
The casts of Taggart, River City and Monarch of the Glen were also prominent among the revellers, but all three shows were pipped to the audience award - most popular televison programme - which went to Still Game.
The show's creators and stars Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill accepted the awards in kilts, which Hemphill happily admitted had nothing underneath.
"Am I commando? What do you think? It's the only way to wear a kilt, " he said.
Hemphill then stressed the importance of the awards to the nation's entertainment industry.
He said: "It's a very Scottish thing to say, why should we bother?
"But the truth of the matter is we should bother because we've got a lot to celebrate and it doesn't harm anyone. There should be more of these."
Among the television awards were Channel 4's compelling drama Low Winter Sun and John Leslie's Childhood, which picked up the prize for best factual programme at the ceremony, which was hosted by GMTV presenter Lorraine Kelly.
The wealth of talent on show persuaded BBC Scotland to televise the ceremony for the first time in years.
It picked up the award for best news and current affairs programme for Frontline Scotland - Arlene Fraser Murder Trial: The Missing Evidence.
Televising the ceremony offered a welcome profile boost to the winners of some of the "new talent awards", including Simon Grohe, who took best new screenplay for Run Tony Run.
Alison Forsyth, director of Bafta Scotland, said: "This year's awards have been the biggest and best ever. More than 800 people attended the event with a galaxy of Scottish stars."
The winners
FILM
Best screenplay Andrea Arnold for Red Road
Best actress Kate Dickie for Red Road
Best actor Tony Curran for Red Road
Best director Andrea Arnold for Red Road
Best film Red Road
Outstanding achievement in film Janet McBain
Russell Hunter Award for best short film Tracks
Best animation Fetch Robert McCann Award for Craft Andy Harris
TELEVISION
Best News and Current Affairs Frontline Scotland, Arlene Fraser Murder Trial: The Missing Evidence
Best documentary Root of all Evil, The Virus of Faith
Best factual My Childhood, John Leslie
Best drama Low Winter Sun
Best entertainment Dear Green Place
Best children's Uncle Dad
Best performance Paul Riley Lloyds
TSB Scotland Award for most popular TV programme Still Game
Special contribution to Scottish broadcasting Taggart
NEW TALENT
Best new work Hikikomori
Best first-time director Yulia Mahr
Best new screenplay Simon Grohe for Run Tony, Run!
Best first-time performance Bryan Larkin for Scene
Best interactive media Kenny Shaw, Ryan Kidd and Duich Mackay, Screenmedia, for My Sust House (www. mysusthouse. org)
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article