‘Outlander’ Star Sam Heughan Expresses Disappointment Over Latest Awards Show Snub

In a disappointing turn of events, the hit time travelling series Outlander was left out of an upcoming award ceremony in Scotland. Although the show’s first season was very successful in the ratings department and has managed to generate a massive following, it was mysteriously excluded from the list of nominations for the 20th BAFTA awards.

In the light of this news, Outlander star Sam Heughan took to Twitter to congratulate the shows that made it into the award ceremony and also expressed his displeasure over Outlander’s exclusion.

“Congratulations all BAFTAScotland nominees! Personally, disappointed Outlander overlooked. Having brought much to ScotTV/tourist industry.”

The BAFTA awards is held in Glasgow and is meant to celebrate the top shows in a variety of categories, including television, TV, and games that have produced throughout the country. With Outlander meeting all the requirements to be included in the awards, it isn’t clear why it wasn’t chosen.

Clearly, along with the success of the TV show, Outlander also proved to be beneficial to the tourism industry in Scotland. According to the Daily Record, the show is believed to have contributed to a rise in Scotland’s tourism by some £40 million. Given this fact alone, it is a wonder why the show was not even included in the list of nominations.

In order to clear things up a bit, the director of the BAFTA awards in Scotland, Jude MacLaverty, tried to explain why Outlander had not been included in the category for Best TV Drama. According to Scotland Now, MacLaverty stated that Outlander was considered, but ultimately did not pass the final vote.

“There are only three nominations for Best TV Drama and that’s the three the jurors wanted to put forward. We can’t get inside a juror’s head,” she stated. “Outlander was eligible and it was entered but it was up to the jury and it was a fair transparent process.”

The shows that replaced Outlander in the category for Best TV Drama included the likes of Glasgow Girls, Shetland, and Stonemouth. While these shows have certainly enjoyed their share of success this past year, none of them generated as much attention and support as the first season of Outlander.

In fact, following the news that BAFTA had snubbed out Outlander, many fans took to Twitter to express their own disapproval with the award ceremony. According to Evening Times, there were several common themes that went along with these fan based complaints.

Along with many fans pointing out that the show is based and filmed in Scotland, many stated that the show has been a huge boost to Scotland’s culture and heritage. With that in mind, not only have more people wanted to learn Gaelic and wear tartans, but as mentioned before, Scotland’s tourism has gone up in large part thanks to the show.

Additionally, the series boasts two of the hottest stars in television in Heughan, who plays Jamie Fraser, and Caitriona Balfe, who plays Claire Randall. Along with their worthy performances, the series also has a great supporting cast, especially with characters like Captain Black Jack Randall, played by Tobias Menzies.

Lastly, the storyline and set designs of the show have been met with a good deal of praise from fans and critics alike. Given the large amount of support the show has managed to create, which was put on display after the BAFTA announcement, Outlander should have easily been included in the award ceremony.

Considering all of these byproducts of the hit series, it really is a mystery why the so-called jury did not decide to place Outlander in the category of Best TV Drama.

[Lead Image Courtesy: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty]