BAFTA Breakthrough has become one of the most significant talent programmes in the UK film, TV and games industry, supporting emerging creatives and practitioners at a pivotal moment in their development.
What makes Breakthrough stand out is the ongoing professional support participants receive to help them achieve long, sustainable careers. Many go on to receive BAFTA award recognition, secure major commissions and forge exciting creative collaborations.
“The programme goes beyond recognising talent at a ‘breakthrough’ moment. It is about providing the foundational support and professional nurturing that sustains a whole career,” says BAFTA CEO Jane Millichip.
Over 300 participants have been selected since its launch 13 years ago. The next iteration is now open to applications until June 19, 2026, in partnership with Netflix for the seventh year.
“We’re proud to support the initiative for a seventh year, continuing to open doors for new creatives across the industry,” said Anne Mensah, Netflix vice president, UK content.
The company has forged a reputation for working closely with emerging UK talent. One of those talents is documentary maker Olaide ‘Laide’ Sadiq, who made her directorial debut Grenfell: Uncovered, for Netflix. Sadiq was chosen to participate in BAFTA Breakthrough 2025 and has gone on to achieve double BAFTA award success. She first won the Emerging Talent: Factual award for Grenfell; Uncovered at the 2026 BAFTA Television Craft Awards with Samsung OLED, the ceremony that celebrates behind-the-scenes excellence in television production.
Sadiq then went on to pick up the Single Documentary award for the film at the 2026 BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises in May.
Grenfell: Uncovered traces the background and events leading up to the tragic event in London in June 2017, which claimed the lives of 72 people as a residential tower block became an inferno. It combines first-hand accounts from those affected by the disaster with evidence of official negligence, going beyond the headlines to examine the systemic failures that led to the tragedy.
“Getting on BAFTA Breakthrough came at the right time,” Sadiq says. “It gave me helpful exposure for a period of time to people in the industry. But it also reminded me that I am doing something well.”
Sadiq’s sentiment is in line with BAFTA Breakthrough’s ethos: The programme does not just celebrate where a filmmaker or creative is in their career but provides the blueprint for where they might go.
A major part of BAFTA Breakthrough’s success is bringing together an array of talent from both sides of the camera who begin as strangers and end as friends, collaborators and a fully-fledged professional network.
“I have met people in my cohort I wouldn’t usually cross paths with,” as Sadiq puts it. “It’s interesting to know the pressures they’re under, how they do things well, what they struggle with. We can all talk to each other and advise each other.
“I don’t work in scripted but I might want to one day,” she continues. ”There are a number of people who work in scripted in my cohort and it’s good to learn from them what goes into a scripted piece of drama or film or series.”
Writer-director Charlotte Regan secured her place in the BAFTA Breakthrough 2023 roster in the immediate wake of her debut feature film Scrapper. The feature won the World Dramatic Grand Jury prize at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. It was subsequently nominated for the Outstanding British Film at the 2024 EE BAFTA Film Awards.
For Regan, much of the value of participating in the Breakthrough programme was found in the cohort of which she became a part.
“I met Kat Morgan, a hair and makeup designer who then did my [BBC] TV show Mint, as part of BAFTA Breakthrough,” Regan recalls. “I now hope to work with Kat for the rest of my life.”
The director is now contemplating her next job, developing a couple of her own features, including a prison-set musical. She has ambitions to direct a Star Wars or James Bond film.
“I got in a lot of rooms that I maybe wouldn’t have had before,” Regan reflects of the impact for her of the Breakthrough programme.
“But more importantly than that, my mum and my nan know what BAFTA is. Coming from a background where people aren’t really in the arts, that means a lot. Being part of BAFTA Breakthrough and telling my nan, who was a real grafter, that I get paid to talk film and television, is proper. Breakthrough gives you that self-confidence.”
Applications for BAFTA Breakthrough UK supported by Netflix are now open at: www.bafta.org/programmes/bafta-breakthrough.
Deadline for entries is 12.00 on Friday June 19 2026.
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