Dick Van Dyke To Receive BAFTA’s Britannia Excellence In TV Award

BAFTA Los Angeles has kicked off the list of recipients for its annual Britannia Awards, announcing today that Dick Van Dyke will be honored with the returning Britannia Award for Excellence in Television at this year’s ceremony October 27 at the Beverly Hilton.

The American star of iconic The Dick Van Dyke Show — who has five Emmy Awards, a Tony, a Grammy and a SAG Lifetime Achievement Award — will receive the Britannia honor, which is bestowed on “inspiring individuals whose extraordinary talent and global appeal have been instrumental in the elevation of the medium of television.” The TV award has not been given out since HBO received it in 2002.

Said Van Dyke, whose film credits include the very British Mary Poppins: “I appreciate this opportunity to apologize to the members of BAFTA for inflicting on them the most atrocious Cockney accent in the history of cinema.”

Still to come for BAFTA L.A.: announcing recipients for the annual John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Excellence in Directing, the Albert R. Broccoli Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Entertainment, the Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy, the Britannia Humanitarian Award, British Artist of the Year the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film. All were awarded at last year’s gala.