Alumnae BAFTA Craft Award Success!

Congratulations to two alumnae on their recognition at the 2024 BAFTA Craft Awards which recognise and celebrate the very in best behind-the-scenes television talent over the last year.  

Aisha Bywaters (Brown's 2002) won the BAFTA for Scripted Casting for Three Little Birds, a life-affirming drama written by Sir Lenny Henry inspired by his mother's stories about leaving Jamaica in the 1950s for Great Britain. 

Aisha is a BAFTA Breakthrough alumni. This is her second BAFTA having won the award for Scripted Casting in 2022 for We are Lady Parts.  

Aisha is Casting Director at her London-based company, Aisha Bywaters Casting. We are honoured that she is also Deputy President of the Edward Alleyn Club for 2023/24.  

In her BAFTA acceptance speech she said: 

“This job was an incredible experience that I'll never forget. We saw so many actors for the lead roles whose family came from the Windrush generation. We got to sit in rooms and discuss our history and try to honour those that came here with nothing, to give us opportunities.” 

Aisha thanked many individuals involved in the drama but in her speech, she paid particular tribute to her mum. She said: 

“To my mum, I love you. You’re my best friend. I adore you. Thanks for telling me the story of you coming here from Jamaica before I went to bed when I was little. Every day you motivate me to do better and be better. This is for you (although I’m going to keep it at my house!)” 

We were also delighted to see alumna Fola Evans-Akingbola (Tulley’s 2012) nominated at this year's awards. Fola was nominated in the 2024 Television Craft 'Emerging Talent: Factual' category for Untold Stories: Hair on Set which is a powerful documentary in which Fola brings together some of the UK's brightest stars to reveal the untold story of Afro hair on film sets. 

On this nomination, Fola said:

"Thank you BAFTA for this incredible honour. Thank you to all the wonderful contributors who bravely spoke on camera and shared their hair story - we are so excited to be able to keep talking about the subject of this documentary and spreading awareness about hair and makeup equality for all performers."

Congratulations Aisha and Fola on your incredible achievements and this fantastic recognition! 

Photo shows Aisha after collecting her award. Photo Credit: @LennyHenry on X