A final couple more pieces for you: the best quotes of the night and some photos of the winners.
And as things start to wrap up, it’s time to wish you good night. But if you consider yourself a fan of hot Bafta content, then don’t be disheartened. More is to come on the next few hours, including Sarah Lee’s always wonderful backstage gallery. For now, though, let’s make like Paddington Bear and stand around gesticulating like some sort of hideous waking nightmare. Goodnight.
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The evening is over and awed reaction is arriving. Here’s Peter Bradshaw’s take on the night, for a start.
Well, what a weird evening that was. The biggest surprise winner in recent memory, and one of the worst monologues. The bits that went long went so long that most of the ceremony came in the form of a montage. And I’m pretty sure that a man with Tourette syndrome shouted a swearword at Paddington Bear. God, I wish they’d aired all of this unedited.
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WINNER! One Battle After Another, best film
Weird that the Best British Film category was a stronger one than this, but it’s hard to argue with the winner. The best film won best film, and Sara Murphy accepts it with another tribute to Adam Somner, who seems absolutely beloved by his entire team. Anderson speaks, and tells everyone who says that films aren’t good to ‘piss off’. He begs to go to a bar. And that’s the end.
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The final award is for best film, and Glenn Close is here to hand it out. And that’s reminded me how good she was in Knives Out, and that’s made me feel bad about saying that it was forgettable. ANYWAY.
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WINNER! Jessie Buckley, best leading actress
For Hamnet. Not the electrifying surprise of the best actor result, but a very popular winner nonetheless. She describes her first time in London, during which she wore “nuclear” fake tan. It’s going on a bit, though, not going to lie.
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Cillian Murphy is here to present best actress. And the crowd are still so jazzed by the Aramayo news that they even whoop with excitement at the announcement of a Peaky Blinders film. Just 12 minutes to go and the Baftas have finally caught fire.
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What a brilliant moment. He couldn’t believe it, to the point of absolute speechlessness. He fought back tears during his speech. And what makes this even better is how sincerely pleased for him the other nominees are. DiCaprio in particular looked thrilled for him. It’s a late turnaround for a categorically awful ceremony, but this is the biggest and best moment of the night. Wow!
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WINNER! Robert Aramayo wins best actor
For I Swear. And this is a hell of a curveball. Obviously, this one won’t influence the Oscars a jot, but what a brilliant result. Aramayo had to embody a hell of a lot to play this role, and this award couldn’t be more deserved.
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Now for best actor, presented by Kerry Washington, from that Knives Out sequel you already forgot came out.
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If you’re struggling to keep track of who’s won what, find all the biggest news from the night neatly packaged here.
After Langley, another montage of awards that can’t fit into the regular broadcast. At this point it’s probably easier to just Google the winners, to be honest. Zootropolis 2 won something though.
Standing ovation from lots of people who want to still be employed by NBC Universal in the future. Langley uses her speech to reflect on her career, and also to point out that we might be entering a new golden age of cinema because the world is so screwed up at the moment.
Oh, it was the first one. Dame Donna Langley gets the fellowship. Testimonials from Spielberg, Nolan, Craymer, Fellner and Bevan, Cruise and Emma Thompson (recording hers into her phone in a hurry). Accompanied by clips of basically every big, good film of the last 20 years, Spielberg calls her his “safety blanket”. This is high praise indeed.
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Here comes Prince William to either a) present this year’s fellowship award or b) tell Paul Thomas Anderson that his films are a bit too weird for him.
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This has been such a lopsided ceremony, and the broadcast edit so ungainly, that there is now a montage of all the awards that they didn’t have time to show in full. The tl;dr is that Frankenstein won a lot, and also a short film called This is Endometriosis. Also Clare Binns from Picturehouse won outstanding contribution. Reports of her speech have said that she asked the audience to make their films shorter in the future, but this bit was edited out.
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WINNER! Paul Thomas Anderson, best director
For One Battle After Another. Lots of frankly quite rude closeups of the other nominees smiling through gritted teeth, but Anderson is gracious. He thanks Leonardo DiCaprio, and then gives a very tender tribute to his assistant director Adam Somner, who died shortly after production wrapped.
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WINNER! Robert Aramayo, rising star award
Aramayo is the lead of I Swear, the film about John Davidson, which is why someone heckled Paddington Bear tonight. He’s very good about contextualising Davidson, saying that people with Tourette syndrome are often defined by the reaction of others. After he leaves the stage, Cumming acknowledges Davidson’s tics for the first time, and apologises for any offence caused.
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We’re still waiting for results in many of the main categories, but Jess Cartner-Morley reckons that the biggest drama of the night has already taken place – in the red carpet fashion battle.
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Now it is time for the in memoriam section, accompanied by Jessie Ware singing The Way We Were. Always weird to liveblog these, but lots of people died this year, and so far the audience is being very good about not applauding them.
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WINNER! Hamnet, outstanding British film
Which is perhaps to be expected, because Hamnet was the highest profile nominee. But this might have been the strongest category of the night, which is heartening. Producer Sam Mendes accepts, calling the film an act of faith and thanking Steven Spielberg for producing it with him.
Unsure what just happened, but Alan Cumming just called out Paul Mescal for being on his phone. Everyone looks embarrassed, but it will still qualify as perhaps only the sixth weirdest thing that has happened tonight.
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WINNER! Sentimental Value, film not in the English language
Joachim Trier accepts the award, noting that this is the first time a Norwegian film has won a Bafta. He uses his speech to point out that the films nominated this year are different from phone adverts.
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Alia Bhatt is here to present best film not in the English language, which she does not in the English language. Form and content, solid presentation, 7/10.
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WINNER! Frankenstein, best costume design
Sadly, Frankenstein can’t be here tonight, so here to collect the award on his behalf is the woman who made his clothes. You have no idea how long I’ve been sitting on this joke.
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Hannah Waddingham is here to present best costume design, and describes tonight as “gently raucous”, which is a nice way to describe the sight of several A-listers being thrown by the sound of loud Tourette tics.
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WINNER! Paul Thomas Anderson, best adapted screenplay
For One Battle After Another. The fightback against Sinners begins. Anderson nearly drops his award, and says how much he loves London. It’s a short speech, the sort one gives when you think you may be back for another one soon.
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Adapted screenplay now, presented by Warwick Davis, who suggests that he was asked to present because Bafta already had a miniature lectern they wanted to reuse.
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WINNER! Akinola Davies Jr and Wale Davies, Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer
For My Father’s Shadow. Very sweet, and very brief speech.
Cumming is in the audience again, telling Paul Mescal off for being younger than him, before he introduces Ethan Hawke. He’s presenting outstanding British debut.
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And now the KPop Demon Hunters people are singing Golden. It’s the first time they’ve performed this outside of the states, apparently. As ever with these things, it’s always weird when a film awards show does something that’s sincerely popular. Shame they’re doing it to a sea of uniformly blank faces (aside from Chase Infiniti and the kid from Hamnet), but that doesn’t stop it from being the best part of the evening so far.
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Cumming is doing the thing where he goes out into the audience with snacks. He gives Emma Stone some Hula Hoops. He gives Stormzy some Skips. Chalamet gets some Scampi Fries. DiCaprio gets a flapjack. This is getting more laughs than his monologue. Which admittedly wouldn’t take much, but still.
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WINNER! Ryan Coogler, best original screenplay
For Sinners. So far, it’s is looking like Sinners may run away with the evening. Coogler seems surprised and a little nervous. He’s talking about his first time in the UK, when his driver showed him where Marcus Garvey lived. He shouts out his fellow nominees, too. This is a very good speech, not least for how sincerely off the cuff it sounds.
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Kathryn Hahn and Bryan Cranston are here now, to present best original screenplay. They promise the audience that the characters they play in The Studio are not based on anyone in attendance. They’re taking more time than Paddington, which I think qualifies as treason in this country.
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Clearly nobody was expecting Boong win, because the winners were all hidden away at the back of the auditorium and they took about a thousand years to get to the stage. Hopefully this doesn’t cut into any of the montages.
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WINNER! Boong, best children’s and family film
An unexpected winner, especially against a juggernaut like Zootropolis 2. But Boong is a lovely Indian Manipuri-language coming-of-age drama. And also, what a great thing that Bafta has this category.
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Paddington is making a joke about getting marmalade on his award, which is nice because it distracts everyone from his cold, dead eyes.
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Here comes the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Paddington Bear is here, as a presenter and not to accompany members of the royal family to the afterlife like he does on Facebook.
WINNER! Sean Penn, best supporting actor
For One Battle After Another. So not Skarsgård, then. Even more awkwardly, Skarsgård is there and Penn is not. Nobody is there to collect his award. Oh well.
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Next up is best supporting actor, presented by Gillian Anderson and Maggie Gyllenhaal. They’re mentioning Stellan Skarsgård an awful lot here. Could this be a portent?
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WINNER! Wunmi Mosaku, best supporting actress
For Sinners. What a lovely surprise, met by screams of approval from the assembled masses and a bit of a glare from Carey Mulligan. Wunmi is completely breathless, and hammers through a long list of thanks. Her character deepened her capacity to love, she says, and then thanks her agent.
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Best supporting actress now, presented by Patrick Dempsey, of nothing popular recently.
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WINNER! Avatar: Fire and Ash, best visual effects
Also most visual effects. The winners point out that 2,000 visual artists worked on the film.
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The first award is here already. Delroy Lindo and Michael B Jordan are here to present best visual effects. They’re also being thrown off by Davidson.
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I think I know what’s going on. John Davidson, the inspiration for I Swear, about a man with Tourette syndrome, is in the auditorium, and he’s audibly ticcing. Nobody seems to have informed Cumming of this, because he keeps looking startled every time it happens. Which is a charitable way to read a monologue not being very funny, but it would explain a lot.
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Cumming is trying to lead the crowd in a big primal scream. Everyone is far too reserved to join him. This is all profoundly awkward. He’s bigging up the upcoming musical adaptation of his 1990s sitcom The High Life now.
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“It’s been a great year for daddy issues,” Cumming says in what might qualify as his first joke. His second joke is about how miserable all the films are this year.
The good news is that the monologue, scientifically speaking, has to be better than that whatever that was.
And now Alan Cumming is doing a little sketch, where he does a Zoom to try to “Marty Supreme” the Baftas, alongside Warwick Davis, Ken Jeong and Brian Cox. It’s very long, and Brian Cox has a cat filter. And the kid from Hamnet pretends not to know what television is, and Hannah Waddingham sort of says nothing. And then there’s Paddington, who doesn’t really say anything either.
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And here we go. The show begins, as you’d expect, with a long list of films accompanied by a Goldfrapp song. There’s a red carpet montage full of people who have never been to the Baftas before, one of whom threatens to vomit.
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Well, here we are. You’ve done very well to stick with things so far, but now it is time to repay your patience with the BBC’s coverage of the 2026 Bafta film awards. You are all welcome.
Just 20 minutes to go until the BBC coverage begins and we can stop pretending that the awards aren’t already happening. Go to the toilet while you still can.
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Out of interest, does anyone happen to know what this Paddington’s voice sounds like? I’m toying with the idea of letting my kids watch him present an award, but they’ve only just got over Kermit the Frog’s new voice and I really don’t want to have to go through that again.
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If you’re here already, it’s probably because you’re interested in the red carpet. If that’s the case, here’s a beautiful and comprehensive gallery for you to peruse at your pleasure. And here are Wale Davies and Akinola Davies looking seriously suave, for starters.
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Also, it’s been reported that someone yelled “Is the monarchy in peril?” at Prince William during his red carpet walk. First, you always have to have plenty of respect for people willing to heckle in such a formal way. Second, on the basis on William’s film recommendations alone, it probably is a bit.
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I was wrong about finding out the winners on social media, by the way. I just checked the official Bafta X feed and its most recent video was of Timothée Chalamet walking the red carpet. It seems as if the official line is to announce in time with the television coverage, which if nothing else makes me feel a bit less mad.
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Even though we all know that Paul Mescal and the singer Gracie Abrams have been dating since about 2024, they’ve never made it red carpet official. Until now, that is. The couple – who, aside from some sneaky paparazzi shots and cryptic Instagram posts have managed to keep their relationship private – tonight decided to ditch the covert approach and instead hard launch at the Baftas, complete with a cheeky kiss. As previously mentioned, Mescal is wearing Prada while Abrams has gone for a beaded floral look from Chanel. A romantic dress for a romantic moment. Swoon!
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One Battle After Another Star Teyana Taylor is making a case for the red carpet trench. The dramatic ruff is much cooler than a hood. Between her and Archie Madekwe, collars are really having a moment. You have been warned!
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Quite frankly, Prince William needs all the help he can get. The BBC just posted a fragment of an interview from the red carpet. Highlights are that he thought One Battle After Another was “weird”, that he hadn’t seen Sinners on the basis that it’s a “bit dark” and that he liked F1.
The president of Bafta, there.
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In the meantime, let’s assume that these Baftas will go down in history as The One That Paddington Went To, Even Though He Isn’t Even Nominated for Anything, The Attention-Seeking Git.
You might be surprised to learn that this is not the first time that Paddington has walked the red carpet. Eleven years ago, he appeared in Shanghai ahead of his first movie, although he was about 3ft taller than he is now, and most recently he was seen glad-handing everyone backstage at the Royal Variety Performance.
So that’s three high-profile appearances now, and you’ll notice that every single one of them has been with Prince William. It’s good to see that, in a time of unprecedented constitutional crisis, the royal family can at least count on the support of a fictional bear in a hat.
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Yes, it is overcast in London. Yes, dusk is falling. But here is Joe Alwyn in a pair of statement sunglasses.
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We now find ourselves entering Schrodinger’s Baftas; the two-hour lull where the awards simultaneously do and do not exist, depending on whether you’re in Royal Festival Hall or waiting for the TV coverage.
As such, updates here will slow to a trickle for a little while. Obviously, you could pass the time by looking on social media to see who wins what in real time, but surely it would be much more fun to put your head in the sand until 7pm, because then you’ll be able to see the glowers of barely concealed disappointment from all the losers. And isn’t that really what Bafta night is for?
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It appears that the toyal family is really embracing the “keep calm and carry on£ mantra. Hours after the arrest of his brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on Thursday, the king popped up on the front row at the Tolu Coker show at London fashion week. Now William and Catherine, the Prince and Princess of Wales, are all smiles on the Bafta red carpet. Kate is wearing a lovely tulle gown in tonal shades of blush and mauve. William is in smart plum velvet tuxedo. It’s a nice nod to coordinated couples dressing without going full on matchy-matchy. William also seems to be sporting some new stubble in place of his standard clean-shaven, look while Kate has ditched an updo for loose hair. It’s all giving the illusion of Hey, look how relaxed we are’, even though it’s clearly been a tumultuous week for the royals, not to mention the country.
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To follow all the joys – and disappointments – of this year’s ceremony, head here for live coverage of every prize as it happens
Archie Madekwe, who is nominated for the EE rising star award, has risen to the occasion in a Dior suit complete with sparkly ruff. Jonathan Anderson, Dior’s creative director, featured a similar collar on the invitations for his recent show, but this is the first time we have spotted one in the wild. Very much here for it.
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Here comes the red carpet chameleon Timothée Chalamet. One awards ceremony the Marty Supreme star is embracing method dressing, opting for looks including a ping-pong orange leather co-ord. The next, he’s stripped it right back – here, he’s has gone for a head-to-toe charcoal look from Givenchy by Sarah Burton. I don’t hate it, but it’s a lot less memorable and, more importantly less meme-able, than previous looks.
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Adolescence star Erin Doherty is giving us another red carpet optical illusion. The British actor is wearing a dress from Louis Vuitton featuring a dramatic scooped neckline and equally dramatic pleated skirt. I imagine in a crowded situation – such as wading your way through celebrities at the Baftas – the width of this dress is very useful, serving as a polite way of getting someone to move aside without having to shout at them over the din.
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It’s a triple Irish threat. Now here’s Paul Mescal. The Hamnet star is wearing a look from Prada. The slightly crumpled shirt and threadbare cuffs are a signature of the brand that likes to toy with the definition of luxury. Bet Mescal was pleased that he didn’t have to bother with the ironing this Sunday.
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Here comes another Irish star. Cillian Murphy, who takes a no-nonsense approach to red carpet etiquette and fashion, has gone for a classic black suit. The high lapels on the blazer are a nice touch, as is the white tie on white shirt.
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The Hamnet star Jessie Buckley, who is hotly tipped to win best leading actress at this evening’s ceremony, has just arrived and is wearing a striking blue velvet dress. The Irish actor recently started working with the Hollywood stylist Danielle Goldberg. Goldberg also works with Ayo Edebiri and Greta Lee, and over the past couple of months she has been honing Buckley’s red carpet approach. They have been sticking to a pared-back colour palette, including black-and-white looks from McQueen and Valentino. This evening’s marine blue look is a surprise, but we do love a celebrity who keeps us on our toes.
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On the red carpet, Glenn Close is telling Dazed magazine that the line “I’m not going to be ignored, Dan” from her role in Fatal Attraction is still stuck in her head. Close, who is presenting an award later, definitely isn’t being overlooked in this beautiful black coat with shimmering silver embroidery detailing. The 78-year-old has hot-footed it from the Erdem show at London fashion week, where she sat front row next to Helen Mirren.
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We haven’t seen Stormzy on a red carpet in a little while. His last big appearance was at the 2025 Met Gala, where he wore an unbuttoned white dress shirt over a vest from Haider Ackermann’s debut collection for Tom Ford. Today, the rapper has gone for a traditional tuxedo and accessorised it with a little red rose brooch in place of a corsage. The look is smart, chic and shows why a tux is an all-time classic.
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Kerry Washington, who is presenting an award later, has chosen a trailing gown from Prada for the occasion. The navy dress features some gorgeous floral applique detailing around the bustier. We wouldn’t like to be tackling any steps with a train that long, especially in front of an audience but, then again, we are not Hollywood stars.
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A little light reading
For anyone who fancies some homework before we know the final results, here’s a primer:
The full list of nominations
Peter Bradshaw’s predictions
News on who’s nominated and who isn’t, plus more on the snubs
The identity crisis facing the Baftas
Why awards-show hosting is the worst job in the world, plus more on this year’s host, Alan Cumming
The best Bafta moments in history – ranked (features a fantastic photo of John Hurt)
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All the best Hollywood stylists will tell you the trick to nailing red carpet style is to wear something you are comfortable in. Paddington Bear has taken this advice and ran with it. The bear from Peru has stuck to his signature blue wool duffel coat and red felt hat. We’ve recently seen duffel coats on the catwalks of designers including Coach and Simone Rocha, and the Oasis star Liam Gallagher, so Paddington is very on trend. He hasn’t overlooked the glam, either. Those claws look particularly shiny – perhaps the result of pre-carpet pawdicure?
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Hello everyone, Chloe from the fashion desk here. For the next two hours I’ll be overseeing the good, the great and the downright bizarre looks on the red carpet. The first to arrive is this year’s host Alan Cumming. The presenter and host of The Traitors US is known for his love of a flamboyant look and he is not disappointing here. No doubt, Cummingwill change for his actual presenter duties, but for his arrival he has gone for a gradient coloured coat covered in tassels. Swishing along the red carpet, Cumming demands attention. Stand by for a closer look at his hair.
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Here is Chase Infiniti, who is nominated for best leading actress for her role in One Battle After Another. The American has gone for strapless burgundy fluted gown which, thanks to a carpet’s similar colouring, gives the illusion that she is hovering above ground. To Infiniti and beyond!
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As I said Cumming, loves a flamboyant look and nothing says theatrical like swirls of neon feathers glued to one’s scalp. It’s just the fun start we needed.
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Hello everyone, and welcome to the Guardian’s liveblog of the 2026 Bafta film awards. This is exactly the place to be if you enjoy celebrating the best cinema of the last year. It is also the place to be if you like looking at pictures of famous people being visibly surprised by dour weather, but that’s probably less important.
As always, the Baftas need a little bit of explaining, so here we go. As we speak, the red carpet is already in full swing at London’s Royal Festival Hall. Two hours from now the ceremony will begin, where it will run for between two-and-a-half to three hours. However, that will mean nothing to television viewers, because the BBC’s broadcast of the ceremony doesn’t begin until 7pm. Clear?
So here’s how the next few hours will go. Any moment now, Chloe MacDonnell will start bringing you the best looks from the red carpet. Then, the show will start, and we’ll all pretend that we don’t know who the winners are. And then, at 7pm, I’ll cover the glorious two-hour BBC broadcast. After that, we’ll just keep dancing until we’re all exhausted.
Now that the housekeeping is over, we have a lot to look forward to tonight. More than most years, the Baftas are shaping up to be a pretty decent bellwether for the Oscars. One Battle After Another leads the way with 14 nominations, while Sinners follows with 13 and both Hamnet and Marty Supreme close behind on 11 each. It might also be the night that The Ballad of Wallis Island finally gets the awards it deserves, which would be very exciting.
But this is all to come. For now, kick back and enjoy yourself. It’s going to be a long night.
