Kate Beckinsale blasts Bafta's 'cold' response after stepdad's death
The actor's stepfather Roy Battersby passed away earlier in January
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Kate Beckinsale has said her heart has been broken “all over again” by a “horribly cold email” stating that her late stepfather Roy Battersby can not be guaranteed a spot in Bafta’s In Memoriam tribute.
Director Battersby – who was married to Beckinsale’s mum Judy Loe for 27 years - passed away earlier this month at the age of 87 after an illness. Confirming her sad news, Beckinsale said on Instagram that she had “no words yet”.
The Underworld star has now penned a scathing post aimed at Bafta, listing Battersby’s achievements and saying she felt “paralysed, sick and sickened” over the fact his inclusion in the award ceremony’s special segment could be in question.
Sharing a snap of her with Battersby, she wrote on Instagram that it was taken “just after I presented my stepdad with the lifetime achievement Bafta for his incredible work”. Beckinsale then listed some of his work, such as Colin Welland’s Leeds United!, about the first all-female strike in the clothing trade, the first seven episodes of Tomorrow’s World, Inspector Morse and A Touch Of Frost.
“Today Bafta told me they ‘could not guarantee’ he would be included in their ‘in memoriam’ tribute, to honour the industry members we have lost,” she said. “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 organisation the highest accolade they have) to decide IF his death is worth mentioning.
“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 paralysed, sick and sickened and I will honour him and his work every day of my life.”
Beckinsale also shared that her actor mother had been “gracefully and quietly dealing with stage four cancer for the last six years” adding: “And just lost her husband so thanks again, Bafta for your horribly cold email.”
The star also shared a message, apparently from Bafta, which said that all names gathered during the year went before Bafta's Obituaries Committee, which meets to compile the In Memoriam segment, but noted that "we are never able to make any guarantees of inclusion". It said Battersby's Bafta win fell within television and that as those awards were in May, the segment would be discussed in the spring.
A Bafta spokesperson told Yahoo that Battersby would be honoured,
“We were very sorry to hear of Roy Battersby’s recent passing - he was a renowned and trailblazing director," they said.
"Roy Battersby was awarded the Alan Clarke Award in 1996, a Bafta Special Television Award. We confirm he will be honoured in our forthcoming Bafta Television Awards in May, and on the In Memoriam Section on our website.”
Beckinsale’s dad, Porridge and Rising Damp actor Richard Beckinsale, died of a heart attack in 1979 at the age of 31, when she was just five. Her mum Loe went on to marry Battersby in 1997, when Beckinsale was in her early 20s.
The Hollywood star was known to be close to her stepfather and just a few months ago shared a montage of pictures of him and Loe as she wrote: “I’ll fight all the wars with you. Love you both so much x.” In December she was seen holding Battersby’s hand as she accompanied him during a hospital visit.
After he passed away, she wrote on Instagram: “I have no words yet.” “I fought for you with everything I had,” she said. “Oh Roy I am so sorry I lost.”
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