Kate Beckinsale Slams BAFTA Over In Memoriam Slot For Step-Father Roy Battersby

Kate Beckinsale shared a charged and lengthy post on Instagram Thursday morning in response to what she described as a “horribly cold email” from BAFTA about the death of her stepfather, TV director Roy Battersby. 

Shared just as this year’s BAFTA film awards were announced, Beckinsale said in the post that despite Battersby’s lengthy list of credits and honors for his work on the small screen, including a BAFTA for lifetime achievement, the awards body told her they  “could not guarantee he would be included in their ‘in memoriam tribute’” to late industry members during this year’s awards shows. 

“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 organization the highest accolade they have ) to decide IF his death is worth mentioning,” Beckinsale said in the post, which was accompanied by a picture of Beckinsale and her mother with Battersby, accepting his honorary BAFTA. 

She added: “If his work, his life, his craft, his mentoring, his heart and soul are worthy of a mention that he is gone. That, that has broken my heart all over again. I am paralyzed, sick and sickened and I will honor him and his work every day of my life.”

In response to Beckinsale’s post, BAFTA shared a statement with Deadline, announcing plans to honor Battersby during this year’s BAFTA TV awards in May and on their website. 

“We were very sorry to hear of Roy Battersby’s recent passing – he was a renowned and trailblazing director,” a BAFTA spokesperson said. “Roy Battersby was awarded the Alan Clarke Award in 1996, a BAFTA Special Television Award. We confirm he will be honored in our forthcoming BAFTA Television Awards in May, and on the In Memoriam section on our website.”

Battersby died last Wednesday, surrounded by family after “a brief period of illness,” according to a statement shared Monday on Beckinsale’s Instagram account. He was 87. His credits included A Touch Of Frost, Winter Flight, and Red Mercury.