Sam Neill has won a posthumous best actor award at Australia’s biggest television awards, the Logies, with comedian Sam Pang taking home the night’s top honour, the Gold Logie award for most popular personality. Neill, who died in July, won his posthumous Logie for best lead actor in a drama, for his performance in legal thriller The Twelve: Cape Rock Killer. His close friend, the actor Heather Mitchell, accepted the award on his behalf.
This is an indication of his connection with his audience.” Mitchell said The Twelve, which Neill starred in for three seasons, “meant a great deal” to him. He talked about it a lot, and he thought [Colby] was a very clever man, and also a sort of 007 kind of person. And that was Sam as well,” she said.
Pang, who is a panellist on quiz show Have You Been Paying Attention? and hosts The Front Bar and Sam Pang Tonight, joked: “I’ve got lots of people to thank tonight and I’ll probably forget some names. If I do forget you, I’m sorry, but maybe also have a think about how much you did.” The 52-year-old congratulated his fellow nominees for the top award: A Current Affair host Ally Langdon, comedian Julia Morris, ABC presenter Lisa Millar, Masterchef judge Poh Ling Yeow, presenter Robert Irwin and Tipping Point Australia host Todd Woodbridge. Pang was presented the award by Magda Szubanski, who made a surprise appearance after recently announcing she was in remission after being treated for cancer.
The Logies have historically been unusual awards, with a mix of popularly voted awards – which celebrities have always actively campaigned to win – and peer-voted awards. Last year, the voting system was overhauled so that the “best” categories – formerly called “most outstanding” – are now determined by a combined score: 50% of which is peer assessment and audience data supplied by the broadcasters, and 50% of which is by popular vote. The Gold Logie and the “most popular” award categories remain determined entirely by popular vote.
Irwin, who hosted this year’s ceremony, won his first Logie, taking home the Bert Newton award for most popular presenter for his role on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here, which was recently cancelled by Network 10. Irwin thanked his family, who he said were watching remotely from a crocodile research expedition in north Queensland, as well as Australia Zoo, where he has lived since childhood. Karvan used her speech to pay tribute to trans children and their parents, saying: “May their voices always be heard.” Simon Baker won best supporting actor for his performance in The Narrow Road to the Deep North – his second Logie win after his first in 1993, which was “somewhere in the shed”, he said.
He thanked director Justin Kurzel and his castmates, joking: “There’s not a bad performance in this thing and I can say that because I have just won an award.” The ABC had a strong night, winning eight Logies. Goolagong, the ABC drama about the two-time Wimbledon winner Evonne Goolagong Cawley, won best miniseries, while the show’s star, Whadjuk and Ballardong Noongar actor Lila McGuire, won the Graham Kennedy award for most popular new talent. ABC comedy Dog Park won two awards: best actress in a comedy for Celia Pacquola and best scripted comedy program.
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