I was asked to capture the best of Britain’s TV talent when they gathered in the Royal Festival Hall to celebrate the BAFTA TV Awards 2019.

Taking inspiration from Irvin Penn we created a corner studio backstage, ready to capture portraits of the presenters and winners as they came off stage and dived into a media whirlwind. The Killing Eve cast couldn’t hold in their excitement, Baroness Bakewell was honoured with a fellowship, Cumberbatch was overwhelmed with emotion, Helen McCrory stunned me to silence, and Ant was reunited with Dec. It was a crazy evening of pure adrenalin – with just a minute or two to photograph each individual I simply didn’t stop, fascinating person followed fascinating person, it was a plethora of talent and I went into overdrive to capture it all.

Massive thanks to my amazing team for pulling it off without a glitch: my assistants Laimonas and Daniele working non-stop all night constantly tweaking lights, moving furniture and jumping up and down at my every whim, Simon Godfrey for creating the most beautiful of sets, Jacqui from Camera Press constantly advising me on the best approach, Melissa Morgan for her careful retouching, and of course Claire and Jordan and the BAFTA photography team for giving me one of the best commissions of my life.