David Olusoga to receive the Bafta Special Award for his outstanding contribution to TV

David Olusoga is to receive a Bafta special award for an outstanding contribution to television.

The honorary prize, which will be awarded at the Bafta television awards on 14 May, is one of the organisation’s highest accolades. Previous winners include Sir Lenny Henry, Clare Balding, Idris Elba and Cilla Black.

With a three-decade career spanning the creative arts and academia, the historian and broadcaster has been a trailblazer for the TV industry, leading the reappraisal of how history has been traditionally told through popular culture.

The special award will be his second from Bafta, as his 2015 series, Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners, won the specialist factual category at the charity's ceremony in 2016.