Lowthorpe becomes BAFTA's first female Drama Director winner

Call the Midwife director Philippa Lowthorpe made history last night by becoming the first ever female winner of the coveted Best Director – Fiction trophy at last night’s BAFTA Craft Awards.

Philippa’s success with the hugely popular BBC1 series meant she overcame Julian Jarrold, who directed the Fred West drama Appropriate Adult, Hettie McDonald, whose series Hit and Miss starred Chloe Sevigny as a transsexual assassin, and Birger Larsen, the Danish filmmaker behind Murder.

It was a good night too for Ben Chanan, who won Best Director – Factual for The Plot to Bring Down Britain’s Planes, a documentary about a group of British terrorists who planned to blow up multiple US airliners. Other nominees included John Dower, whose Bradley Wiggins: A Year in Yellow gave audiences an insight into the Tour de France-winning cyclist, Ben Anthony, director of 7/7: One Day in London, which featured testimony from over 50 people affected by the bombings in 2005, and Katharine English, who gave us a soldier’s perspective on life in Afghanistan in Our War.

Finally, the winners of Best Director – Multicamera were Hamish Hamilton and Tapani Parm for the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics. In an impressive feat the two directors beat themselves to the BAFTA, having also being nominated for the Closing Ceremony, as well as Paul Davies, nominated for the so-called “Super Saturday” of the Games, and Nikki Parsons, director of Strictly Come Dancing.

For a full list of winners, click here.