10 Things We Learned From The 2026 BAFTAS

1 – The Baftas can sure throw a curveball! Best Actor was meant to be a straight fight between Timothée Chalamet and Leonardo DiCaprio to steer us towards which one will get the Oscar, since the Bafta voters form a large bloc of the Oscar vote. Instead, Robert Aramayo, came from nowhere and won for his turn in I Swear. Now, Chalamet, DiCaprio, Jordan and Hawke will have to wait until the Actor awards (formerly SAG) on 1st March to decide whether they need to prepare a winner’s speech or practice their best losing face.

2 – The best prepared speeches and the slickest PR answers on the red carpet can’t compete with a moment of sheer, unadulterated joy from your parents. Robert Aramayo’s family was thrilled enough when he won the Rising Star public vote. But then, when he beat Leo and Timmy, they could barely contain themselves. His father’s flushed, weeping face and the proud kisses his mother bestowed upon him, made for an extremely moving moment. It highlights how important winning is for every single person nominated, in any category. Too often, we focus on the front runners, the big stars but as someone, memorably put it, once, ‘yes it’s lovely to be nominated but in that moment when they open the envelope, you would sell your firstborn, for them to call out your name!’

3 – The ’70s are so back. Not only did both Best Actress and Best supporting Actress winners, Jessie Buckley and Wunmi Mosaku choose electric blue for their dresses but each also brought an extra flourish from the decade that fashion would like to forget. Wunmi went with the glittery blue, glam rock eyeshadow. While Jessie opted for the static of no need to iron it, brushed nylon for her toga style gown.

4 – Paul Thomas Anderson and Jessie Buckley are absolute juggernauts this awards season. You’d have to be a billionaire or extremely foolish to bet against them getting their respective Oscars as Best Director and Best Leading Actress next month. One Battle After Another has probably solidified its place as favourite to win Best Picture but Sinners is not down and out yet. And I still believe Hamnet is a dark horse. Both Supporting acting categories, however, remain up for grabs. Stellan Skarsgård didn’t get the expected ‘sentimental’ vote in the actor group, despite being hyped on the red carpet and during the show, for his 50 year career. Instead, another veteran actor, Sean Penn took the prize (and didn’t turn up for it). Meanwhile, in the actress group, it was Wunmi Mosaku who took the honours rather than Teyana Taylor.

5 – Princess or pauper, Jessie Buckley, in Hamnet, can pierce your soul. Prince William, the President of Bafta, was overheard telling some filmmakers that Princess Catherine (Kate) had watched the film the night before and had been in ‘floods of tears.’

6 – The Prince was also overheard telling the group that a 29th award was in order, one that recognised huge box office success. He specifically mentioned Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick as a film that was enormously successful (it made a billion at the box office) and one which Cruise had worked so hard on to make it as exciting as possible. Despite its success, however, it’s not the kind of film that is considered ‘awards worthy.’ Could Bafta follow in the footsteps of the Golden Globes and recognise cinematic and box office achievement at future ceremonies?

7 – For all the warm words, on stage, about how film is a collaborative effort, it seems all that pulling together doesn’t extend to giving the ‘below the line’ people the same limelight as the stars. A number of craft awards, such as for sound and costume design, were not shown live but added onto the main show as an afterthought, a sort of ‘here’s one we prepared earlier.’

8 – The Bafta hosting budget was clearly blown on sparkly jackets for Alan Cumming and so couldn’t stretch to a script writer who could muster up some jokes for the biggest night of the British film industry. Once again, the host’s opening monologue was lame and his subsequent skits barely raised anything above an occasional sympathetic titter. Even Paul Mescal, who was supposed to be the foil for one of Cumming’s running ‘gags’ was caught peeking at messages on his phone rather than waiting for his cue to be part of yet another joke falling flat.

9 – The Baftas are not broadcast live with a two hour time gap between the actual ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall and the show being screened on television. The BBC, we now know, has its own rules about what to edit from the broadcast. It seems political comments by winners were cut but not a racial slur shouted out by Tourette’s syndrome sufferer, John Davidson, played in I swear by Robert Aramayo. It was yelled out when Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo from Sinners were on stage to present an award. The incident has led to huge controversy and heated debate, as to how the matter of Davidson’s condition and the fallout should have been handled.

10 – For all the screaming fans who love the new batch of stars like Timothée Chalamet, Jacob Elordi and Austin Butler, once again, the actor everyone was talking about, wanting to see and just be in the presence of, was Leonardo DiCaprio. The most bankable star of the last 30 years or so, is still the King of the World, it seems. Amongst the women, Kate Hudson was the one everyone wanted. Still as beguiling as she was, all those years ago, in Almost Famous for which she received her first Bafta nomination, Hudson brought her usual A game to the red carpet and the pre Bafta parties.