BAFTAs 2024: Oppenheimer sweeps the ceremony with seven awards – including the night’s big prize
Oppenheimer is the winner of the night at this year’s BAFTAs, taking home seven awards, including the big one – best film.
Cillian Murphy, who stars as “father of the atomic bomb” J Robert Oppenheimer, was named best actor – the first Irish star to win the award – while co-star Robert Downey Jr was honoured in the supporting category.
Accepting his trophy, Murphy thanked his “Oppen-homies” and described his character as “colossally knotty,” adding: “We have a space to debate and interrogate and investigate that complexity and it’s a privilege to be a part of this community with you all.”
Irish actor Cillian Murphy is this year’s BAFTA best actor. Pic: Kate Green/BAFTA/Getty
For Christopher Nolan, the film’s acclaimed British director – also known for Inception, The Dark Knight, and Dunkirk – the “incredible honour” of his first ever BAFTA was a case of third time lucky.
He paid tribute to the film’s cast, led by the “peerless” Murphy, as he accepted the award.
Follow our coverage of the BAFTAs as it happened
Robert Downey Jr broke a BAFTAs record. Pic: Kate Green/BAFTA/Getty
Downey Jr, who plays Lewis Strauss, head of the Atomic Energy Commission, set a new record for the longest gap between wins by an actor – with his latest trophy coming 31 years after his first BAFTA for Chaplin in 1993. Sir Anthony Hopkins was the previous title holder, with 27 years between his wins in 1994 and 2021.
On stage, Downey Jr thanked Nolan, joking: “Recently that dude suggested I attempt an understated approach as a last ditch effort to resurrect my dwindling credibility.”
Oppenheimer’s seven BAFTAs equalled last year’s wins by All Quiet On The Western Front, and were just two short of equalling the all-time record of nine, set by Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid in 1971.
The other big winners
It was also a successful night for Emma Stone, who was named best actress for her performance in Poor Things, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph – who took home the supporting actress trophy for her portrayal of a grieving school chef in The Holdovers.
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Emma Stone and Da’Vine Joy Randolph (pictured below) are among the favourites to take home Oscars in March. Pic: Kate Green/BAFTA/Getty
Pic: Joe Maher/BAFTA/Getty
Stone’s win was one of five for Poor Things, in which she plays a woman with the mind of a child discovering life for the first time, making the film the night’s second big winner.
The American actress said she was “in awe” of all of the team behind the surreal comedy, and thanked her British dialect coach for “not laughing” when she said water in an American accent.
All four acting winners are among the favourites to take home prizes at the Oscars in March.
The show was hosted by David Tennant. Pic: Joe Maher/BAFTA/Getty
In her speech, Randolph paid tribute to her co-star and fellow nominee, Paul Giamatti, saying she “cries every time” she says his name.
“I’m proud to call you a friend and thank you for never wavering,” she said.
She also hailed her character Mary, who would “never would have got a chance to wear a beautiful gown”, before saying it was a “responsibility I don’t take lightly”.
Elsewhere, Holocaust drama The Zone Of Interest took home three awards, including best film not in the English language – and also outstanding British film, due to British involvement behind the scenes, including Jonathan Glazer directing.
Read more:
The full list of winners
Red carpet fashion – all the best looks
Sophie Ellis-Bextor, back in the charts thanks to Saltburn, was the night’s big performer. Pic: Kate Green/BAFTA/Getty
Mia McKenna-Bruce is this year’s BAFTA rising star, the only award voted for by the public. Pic: Kate Green/BAFTA/Getty
It’s Murder On The (BAFTAs) Dancefloor
Despite being the biggest film of 2023, and heading into the ceremony with five nominations, Barbie left the BAFTAs empty-handed.
The show was hosted by David Tennant, who kicked things off with a Zoom-style sketch about looking after Michael Sheen’s dog, Bark Ruffalo – which ended with the dog being handed to the Welsh star at the ceremony.
There was also a performance from Sophie Ellis-Bextor – whose 2001 hit Murder On The Dancefloor has soared up the charts once again thanks to its inclusion in the particularly memorable final scene in viral hit film Saltburn.
Samantha Morton, known for films and TV shows including Minority Report, The Whale and The Walking Dead, was named this year’s BAFTA fellowship winner, the ceremony’s highest honour.
She dedicated the prize “to every child in care, or who has been in care and who didn’t survive”.
Samantha Morton is the winner of this year’s BAFTA fellowship award. Pic: Kate Green/BAFTA/Getty
Prince William, president of BAFTA, and David Beckham were among the BAFTA VIPs. Pic: PA
The 46-year-old actress and director was emotional as she said on stage: “This is nothing short of a miracle. When I first saw Ken Loach’s Kes on a huge telly that was wheeled into my classroom I was forever changed.
“Seeing poverty and people like me on the screen, I recognised myself – representation matters.”
She said she would tell her younger self: “You matter, don’t give up, the stories we tell, they have the power to change people’s lives.”
Elsewhere, The Boy And The Heron was named best animated film – the first Japanese winner in the category – and 20 Days In Mariupol was named best documentary, while American Fiction won adapted screenplay, Anatomy Of A Fall won original screenplay, and Earth Mama took home the prize for outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer.
Mia McKenna-Bruce took home the rising star prize, the only award voted for by the public.
The 26-year-old joked that she hopes her little sisters, who do not think she is “cool”, will change their mind after her win.
Sky News can reveal that the government has rowed back on a national compensation scheme for victims of child sexual abuse, despite it being promised under the previous Conservative administration.
Warning – this story contains references to sexual and physical abuse
A National Redress Scheme was one of 20 key recommendations made by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), but a Home Office report reveals the government has scrapped it because of the cost.
Marie, who is 71, suffered alleged sexual, physical, and emotional abuse at Greenfield House Convent in St Helens, Merseyside, between 1959 and 1962, and is still fighting for compensation.
Greenfield House Convent, where Marie says she was abused
As soon as she arrived as a six-year-old, Marie says her hair was cut off, her name changed, and she experienced regular beatings from the nuns and students.
She claims a nun instigated the violence, including when Marie was held down so that her legs were “spread-eagled” as she was sexually abused with a coat hanger.
Merseyside Police investigated claims of abuse at the convent, but in 2016, a suspect died before charges could be brought.
Marie has received an apology from the Catholic body that ran the home; she tried to sue them, but her claim was rejected because it was filed too long after the alleged abuse.
Marie, 71, is still fighting for compensation for the abuse she says she suffered as a child
In February, ministers said the law would change for victims of sexual abuse trying to sue institutions for damages, which was a recommendation from the IICSA.
Previously, people had to make a civil claim before they were 21, unless the victim could prove a fair trial could proceed despite the time lapse.
Campaigners argued for the time limit to be removed as, on average, victims wait 26 years to come forward. Changes to the 1980 Limitation Act could lead to more people making claims.
Peter Garsden, President of The Association of Child Abuse Lawyers
Civil cases ‘can take three to five years’
But Peter Garsden, president of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers, worries that when it comes to historical abuse where the defendant is dead, institutions will still argue that it is impossible to have a fair trial and will fight to have the case thrown out of court.
Mr Garsden said it takes “between three and five years” for a civil case to get to trial.
He warned that claimants “can end up losing if you go through that process. Whereas the Redress Scheme would be quicker, much more straightforward, and much more likely to give justice to the victims”.
Victim awarded £10 compensation
Jimbo, who was a victim of abuse at St Aidan’s children’s home in Cheshire, took his case to the High Court twice and the Court of Appeal three times, but, after 13 years, all he ended up with was £10 for his bus fare to court.
Despite the Lord Justice of Appeal saying he believed that the abuse had occurred, Jimbo lost his claim because of the time limit for child sexual abuse claims to be made.
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Neither Marie nor Jimbo is likely to benefit from the removal of the time limit for personal injury claims, which is why Mr Garsden is calling on the government to implement a National Redress Scheme for victims of sexual abuse, as recommended by the IICSA.
Hundreds of millions paid to victims
The governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland have set up compensation schemes and paid hundreds of millions of pounds to victims.
In 2023, the then Conservative government said a similar scheme would be organised for England and Wales.
But the Home Office admitted in its Tackling Child Sexual Abuse: Progress Update that it “is not currently taking forward any further steps on the IICSA proposal for a separate, national financial redress scheme for all survivors of child sexual abuse”.
“In the current fiscal environment, this recommendation is very difficult to take forward,” it added.
For victims, the scheme was the last chance of compensation for a lifetime blighted by abuse.
“The money is about justice and about all the other people who have had to suffer this abuse,” Marie said.
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