Britain’s biggest celebration of film – the BAFTAs – take place this Sunday, honouring the best movies of the last year.
With a brand-new host, two special live musical performances, and a red carpet packed with celebrities, it’s set to be a star-studded night with plenty of surprises in store.
Image: Pic: BAFTA/Marc Hoberman
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of this year’s BAFTA Film Awards.
Where are they being held?
The ceremony will take place at the Royal Festival Hall in London’s Southbank Centre.
Sky News will be liveblogging winners as they’re announced, ahead of the televised ceremony which will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from 7pm on Sunday night.
Image: Cillian Murphy is J Robert Oppenheimer in Oppenheimer. Pic: Universal Pictures
Gothic fairy-tale Poor Things has 11 nods, while Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon and German-language drama The Zone Of Interest both have nine nods.
French courtroom drama Anatomy Of A Fall, 70s nostalgia-fest The Holdovers, and Bradley Cooper’s labour of love Maestro all have seven nominations.
All Of Us Strangers, starring Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, has six nominations, while Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn both have five.
Despite being the highest-grossing film of 2023, Barbie failed to make it into the best film category, and Gerwig is also absent from the directing category. It’s likely the film’s fictional heroine would have had something rather pointed to say about those omissions…
Which stars are likely to take home a gong?
If past achievements are anything to go by, Golden Globe wins earlier this year for Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy and Poor Things actress Emma Stone set them both in good stead.
Image: Emma Stone in Poor Things. Pic: Yorgos Lanthimos/Searchlight Pictures
And he’s Britain’s most successful working director, but Christopher Nolan has never won a BAFTA for best film or best director, so many feel this could be his year.
With many of the other categories wide open, one that many of the critics are calling is best supporting actress, with The Holdovers star Da’Vine Joy Randolph considered to be the runaway favourite for both a BAFTA and an Oscar win next month.
Image: Da’Vine Joy Randolph in The Holdovers. Pic: Focus Features/Seacia Pavao
Whether audience-favourite Ryan Gosling will snap up best supporting actor is less easy to foretell.
However, his nomination in this category has received less of a frenzied response than the same nod at the Oscars, mainly due to the fact that Margot Robbie does have a BAFTA nod for best actress, while she was locked out of the Academy Award shortlist.
Image: Jacob Elordi
In the Rising Star category – the only award voted for the public – actor Jacob Elordi‘smuch-talked about performances in Saltburn and Priscilla – would seem to give him more than an even chance of taking home the prize.
Who’s hosting?
David Tennant will host this year’s event for the first time.
Image: David Tennant and Catherine Tate in Doctor Who. Pic: BBC
Clearly feeling laid back about the challenge, he said: “It’ll either work and everyone will be terribly nice about it or it’ll be a total disaster and I’ll never be asked again. Either way – it’s fine.”
The 52-year-old Scottish star has said he won’t be “roasting” any of the stars on the night – an approach that has received mixed results at the BAFTAs in the past.
Last year, the awards ceremony was hosted by Saltburn actor Richard E Grant and This Morning host Alison Hammond, and the year before by Australian actress and comedian Rebel Wilson.
Tennant says he hopes it will be an “evening of generosity and joy,” and has also hinted that his former Doctor Who co-star Catherine Tate might make a surprise appearance.
Image: Dua Lipa. Pic: Matt Crossick/Global/Shutterstock
Who’ll be presenting the awards?
Famous faces giving out awards include David Beckham, Dua Lipa, Hugh Grant, Idris Elba, Cate Blanchett, Gillian Anderson and Daisy Edgar Jones.
And while All Of Us Strangers co-star Andrew Scott was a notable absence from the best actor contenders, he will present a prize on the night.
Ellis-Bextor will be performing her 2001 hit Murder On The Dancefloor, which has become a viral hit since featuring in the closing finale of Saltburn.
Ted Lasso star Waddingham will also give a live musical performance, with details of her turn a closely guarded secret.
Image: Sophie Ellis-Bextor.Pic: Richard Jones
Will any other prizes be handed out?
The Bafta Fellowship – the film academy’s highest honour – will be presented to actress Samantha Morton.
Over a three-decade career (and counting), her credits have spanned British indie productions to Hollywood blockbusters, starring in movies including Under The Skin, The Minority Report and The Whale.
Previous BAFTA Fellow include Charlie Chaplin, Elizabeth Taylor and Steven Spielberg.
Image: Samantha Morton. Pic: Ian West/PA Photos
BAFTA’s Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema will be presented to June Givanni.
She is a pioneering film curator, writer and programmer of African and African diaspora cinema.
Givanni founded The June Givanni PanAfrican Archive (JGPACA), a volunteer-run archive comprising over 10,000 rare and unique artefacts documenting the development of filmmaking across Africa and the African diaspora, including in Britain.
Sky News will be liveblogging winners as they’re announced, from around 4.30pm on Sunday afternoon – follow it all live on our site.
Despite The Who’s Quadrophenia being set over 60 years ago, Pete Townshend’s themes of identity, mental health, and modern masculinity are just as relevant today.
The album is having a renaissance as Pete Townshend’s Quadrophenia A Mod ballet is being brought to life via dance at Sadler’s Wells East, and Sky News has an exclusive first look.
As Townshend puts it, the album he wrote is “perfect” for the stage.
Image: Pete Townshend
“My wife Rachel did the orchestration for me, and as soon as I heard it I said to her it would make a fabulous ballet and we never really let that go,” he tells Sky News.
“Heavy percussion, concussive sequences. They’re explosive moments. They’re also romantic movement moments.”
If you identify with the demographics of Millennial, Gen Y or Gen Z, you might not be familiar with The Who and Mod culture.
But in post-war Britain the Mods were a cultural phenomenon characterised by fashion, music, and of course, scooters. The young rebels were seen as a counter-culture to the establishment and The Who, with Roger Daltry’s lead vocals and Pete Townshend’s writing, were the soundtrack.
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Quadrophenia the album is widely regarded as an essay on the British adolescent experience at the time, focusing on the life of fictional protagonist Jimmy – a young Mod struggling with his sanity, self-doubt, and alienation.
Townshend sets the rock opera in 1965 but thinks its themes of identity, mental health, and modern masculinity are just as relevant today.
He says: “The phobias and the restrictions and the unwritten laws about how young men should behave. The ground that they broke, that we broke because I was a part of it.
“Men were letting go of [the] wartime-related, uniform-related stance that if I wear this kind of outfit it makes me look like a man.”
Image: Paris Fitzpatrick and Pete Townshend. Pic: Johan Persson
This struggle of modern masculinity and identity appears to be echoing today as manosphere influencers like Andrew Tate, incel culture, and Netflix’s Adolescence make headlines.
For dancer Paris Fitzpatrick, who takes on the lead role of Jimmy, the story resonates.
Image: Paris Fitzpatrick, who takes on the lead role of Jimmy in the ballet
“I think there’s a connection massively and I think there may even be a little more revival in some way,” he tells Sky News.
“I love that myself. I love non-conforming to gender norms and typical masculinity; I think it’s great to challenge things.”
Despite the album being written before he was born, the dancer says he was familiar with the genre already.
“I actually did an art GCSE project about Mods and rockers and Quadrophenia,” he says.
“I think we’ll be able to bring it to new audiences and hopefully, maybe people will be inspired to to learn more about their music and the whole cultural movement of the early 60s.”
In 1979, the album was adapted into a film directed by Franc Roddam starring Ray Winstone and Sting but Townshend admits because the film missed key points he is “not a big fan”.
“What it turned out to be in the movie was a story about culture, about social scenario and less about really the specifics of mental illness and how that affects young people,” he adds, also complimenting Roddam’s writing for the film.
Perhaps a testament to Pete Townshend’s creativity, Quadrophenia started as an album, was successfully adapted to film and now it will hit the stage as a contemporary ballet.
It appears that over six decades later Mod culture is still cool and their issues still relatable.
Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet will tour to Plymouth Theatre Royal from 28 May to 1 June 2025, Edinburgh Festival Theatre from 10 to 14 June 2025 and the Mayflower, Southampton from 18 to 21 June 2025 before having its official opening at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London on 24 June running to 13 July 2025 and then visiting The Lowry, Salford from 15 to 19 July 2025.
Russell Brand has been charged with rape and two counts of sexual assault between 1999 and 2005.
The Metropolitan Police say the 50-year-old comedian, actor and author has also been charged with one count of oral rape and one count of indecent assault.
The charges relate to four women.
He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday 2 May.
Police have said Brand is accused of raping a woman in the Bournemouth area in 1999 and indecently assaulting a woman in the Westminster area of London in 2001.
He is also accused of orally raping and sexually assaulting a woman in Westminster in 2004.
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Ashna Hurynag discusses Russell Brand’s charges
The fourth charge alleges that a woman was sexually assaulted in Westminster between 2004 and 2005.
Police began investigating Brand, from Oxfordshire, in September 2023 after receiving a number of allegations.
The comedian has denied the accusations and said he has “never engaged in non-consensual activity”.
He added in a video on X: “Of course, I am now going to have the opportunity to defend these charges in court, and I’m incredibly grateful for that.”
Metropolitan Police Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy, who is leading the investigation, said: “The women who have made reports continue to receive support from specially trained officers.
“The Met’s investigation remains open and detectives ask anyone who has been affected by this case, or anyone who has any information, to come forward and speak with police.”
Tom Cruise has paid tribute to Val Kilmer, wishing his Top Gun co-star “well on the next journey”.
Cruise, speaking at the CinemaCon film event in Las Vegas on Thursday, asked for a moment’s silence to reflect on the “wonderful” times shared with the star, whom he called a “dear friend”.
Kilmer, who died of pneumonia on Tuesday aged 65, rocketed to fame starring alongside Cruise in the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun, playing Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky, a rival fighter pilot to Cruise’s character Maverick.
Image: Tom Cruise said ‘I wish you well on the next journey’. Pic: AP
Image: Val Kilmer in 2017. Pic: AP
His last part was a cameo role in the 2022 blockbuster sequel Top Gun: Maverick.
Cruise, on stage at Caesars Palace on Thursday, said: “I’d like to honour a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer. I can’t tell you how much I admire his work, how grateful and honoured I was when he joined Top Gun and came back later for Top Gun: Maverick.
“I think it would be really nice if we could have a moment together because he loved movies and he gave a lot to all of us. Just kind of think about all the wonderful times that we had with him.
“I wish you well on the next journey.”
The moment of silence followed a string of tributes from Hollywood figures including Cher, Francis Ford Coppola, Antonio Banderas and Michelle Monaghan.
Kilmer’s daughter Mercedes told the New York Times on Wednesday that the actor had died from pneumonia.
Image: Tom Cruise at Caesars Palace on Thursday. Pic: AP
Diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, Kilmer discussed his illness and recovery in his 2020 memoir Your Huckleberry and Amazon Prime documentary Val.
He underwent radiation and chemotherapy treatments for the disease and also had a tracheostomy which damaged his vocal cords and permanently gave him a raspy speaking voice.
Kilmer played Batman in the 1995 film Batman Forever and received critical acclaim for his portrayal of rock singer Jim Morrison in the 1991 movie The Doors.
He also starred in True Romance and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, as well as playing criminal Chris Shiherlis in Michael Mann’s 1995 movie Heat and Doc Holliday in the 1993 film Tombstone.
In 1988 he married British actress Joanne Whalley, whom he met while working on fantasy adventure Willow.
The couple had two children before divorcing in 1996.