Annabel Jones Receives Sian Phillips Award
Grove Park based Black Mirror producer to be honoured by BAFTA Cymru
Annabel Jones (right) as Charlie Brooker receives another award for Black Mirror. Picture: Annabel Jones
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A Chiswick resident, who is originally from Wales, has been given this year’s Siân Phillips Award by Cymru Awards 2022.
Annabel Jones, who lives in Grove Park, has been described as the driving force behind some of the most provocative, innovative and satirical series on television and is best known for her work on the Black Mirror series.
The Siân Phillips Award is presented to a Welsh individual who has made significant contributions in either major feature films or network television programmes.
With a varied and extensive repertoire spanning almost three decades, Annabel Jones’ credits include Dead Set (2008), Charlie Brooker’s various Wipe and Cunk incarnations (2009-), A Touch of Cloth (2012-2014) and Death To 2020 (2020 and 2021) with a reputation for creating daring and entertaining television.
Annabel said, ‘It is a huge honour to be receiving this Special Award from BAFTA Cymru. I am very proud to be Welsh and the idea of being given this accolade by the Television and Film industry in my home country is more fanciful than any episode of Black Mirror.’
Emma Baehr, Executive Director, Awards & Content at BAFTA said, “We are absolutely delighted to be awarding Annabel with the Siân Phillips Award. Annabel has made such a huge and impactful contribution to the television landscape, and is a very deserving recipient of this special award – one of our highest honours.”
Originally from Milford Haven, Annabel studied Development Economics at the London School of Economics. Her first job was at post-production outfit, The Mill, and from there, she moved to production giant EndemolShine, where she was charged with finding talent keen on setting up their own company. This role introduced her to writer Charlie Brooker and an extremely fruitful creative partnership was born.
Over the following years, they worked together at Zeppotron (2000), formed House of Tomorrow (2014) and, most recently, Broke & Bones (2020).
Annabel said, ‘As we started as friends, Charlie and I share a sense of humour and a mutual disrespect. I think that is the secret of our creative collaboration – we are nearly always creatively aligned but when we aren’t, we can be honest with each other. We do respect each other but not at the expense of a good joke.’
While all their work is distinct, it is anthology series Black Mirror that has been the pair’s standout production: five seasons strong with two specials, including the innovative Bandersnatch (2018), which earned Annabel her fifth Emmy Award and ninth BAFTA nomination. She has also won an International Emmy®, a Producers’ Guild of America, a Rose D'or, a Peabody Award, a Broadcast Award, a Broadcasting Press Guild for Innovation in Broadcasting, and in 2019 was given the Judges’ Award by the Royal Television Society.
She feels there are three criteria necessary to be a producer: resilience, sensitivity and diplomacy. ‘You have to be that voice of optimism,’ she states. ‘A good producer supports the whole team, creates a friendly space where everyone’s opinion is valued but they also have to protect the original ambition of the piece. It can be stressful and sometimes lonely, but when it works, it’s magical.’
This year’s BAFTA Cymru Awards were held on Sunday 9 October for the first time in two years, at St David’s Hall, Cardiff, and hosted by Alex Jones. The ceremony is available to watch live on BAFTA’s YouTube channel.
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October 16, 2022
