Meanwhile, US comedian and actor Keegan-Michael Key presented an award entirely in an English accent and best supporting winner Downey Jr said he owed his award in part to Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan’s “British sensibility”.

Not to mention fellow US star Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who is a fully paid-up Anglophile. She started her career in London’s West End in Ghost the Musical and before that, studied at the British American Drama Academy in Oxford.

“I used to come back in [to London] and see performs and I noticed War Horse on the National Theatre, it modified my life,” she mentioned backstage.

“It was so superb, I known as my college [back in the US] and mentioned ‘I’m not coming again, I need to keep right here.’ So you guys taught me the classics and I’m obsessive about Pinter and all that stuff.”

She really is the gift who keeps on giving. Earlier in the evening, she took to the stage to collect her award for best supporting actress for her role as grieving mother Mary in The Holdovers.

As she stepped up to receive the prize from 12 Years a Slave star Chiwetel Ejiofor, she couldn’t resist telling him: “You’re so good-looking.” And he did indeed look dapper in a classic black tux by Lanvin.

She got teary as she spoke about co-star Paul Giamatti and again when she talked about her character. “There have been numerous Marys all through historical past who’ve by no means had the possibility to put on a stupendous robe and stand on this stage right here in London. Telling her story is a duty I don’t take evenly.” We were welling up, too.

Later, she made journalists cry with laughter when she used a well-known British word beginning with ‘b’ when asked about the odd decision to release The Holdovers in the UK in January, even though it’s set during the Christmas period. We’re sure you can guess what word we’re referring to.

Best actor winner Cillian Murphy probably made his teenage sons cringe when he thanked his “Oppenhomies” in his acceptance speech but we loved it.

He’s the first Irish-born performer to win a best actor Bafta and said, “I’m a very proud Irishman, it means quite a bit.” He added: “People have come as much as me on the road and mentioned they’ve seen the movie [Oppenheimer] 5, six, seven occasions… it is very humbling… and it has been a superb 12 months for cinema.”

At three hours long, six or seven times might be just a bit too much.

Host David Tennant was an all-round success this year, with his natural enthusiasm proving infectious and a genuinely funny script. And how many men could get away with a combo of kilt, sporran and sparkly epaulettes?

Tennant also had fun with the Barbie crew, introducing “the ugly nook” as the camera panned to gorgeous pair Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in the audience. Signing off the show with “Come on Barbie, let’s go get together” was additionally a spotlight.

Since then, the 62-year-old has gone on to raise millions for research into the disease and also raises awareness through The Michael J Fox Foundation. Many on social media said his appearance brought them to tears.

While Emerald Fennell’s twisted thriller failed to convert any of its five nominations into awards, it still dominated the headlines as Sophie Ellis Bextor took to the stage to perform Murder on the Dancefloor. Her 2002 track has enjoyed something of a renaissance since being used during the infamous final scene of the film as Barry Keoghan’s character Oliver dances naked around his country pile.

Thankfully, Barry didn’t feel the need to re-enact his performance, staying safely ensconced in his seat. The camera did cut to him at the end though and he seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed the show.

“Oompa-loompa, doompity-dee, now the perfect director categor-ee, Oompa Loompa doompity-dong, most of those movies have been frankly too lengthy, Oompa Loompa doompity daa, however for some cause, the nominees are…”

It wasn’t all frivolous fun, however. The Zone of Interest won three awards, including outstanding British film. It tells the chilling story of the head of Auschwitz, who lives next door to the death camp with his young family.

Producer James Wilson said in his acceptance speech for best film not in the English language: “A pal wrote to me after seeing the movie the opposite day that he could not cease interested by the partitions we assemble in our lives, which we select to not look behind.

“Those walls aren’t new, from before or during or since the Holocaust, and it seems stark right now that we should care about innocent people being killed in Gaza, or Yemen, in the same way we think about innocent people being killed in Mariupol or in Israel.”

20 Days in Mariupol picked up the prize for finest documentary. Its director, Mstyslav Chernov, gave an emotional interview to the BBC’s Colin Paterson, saying that he hopes he’ll nonetheless be alive by the point the Baftas come round subsequent 12 months. His movie paperwork a staff of Ukrainian journalists trapped within the besieged metropolis of Mariupol as they doc the atrocities of the Russian invasion.

Speaking backstage, he mentioned: “We give voice to Ukrainians. We keep reminding the world about what is happening right now. Another city just got occupied by Russia so it’s more important than ever to be here and keep talking about this. This award is for the people of Mariupol. They have saved our lives. They have helped us every step of the way.”

Morton, who has loved a profitable TV profession in exhibits resembling The Walking Dead in addition to starring in movies like Minority Report and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, was the recipient of this 12 months’s Bafta Fellowship, the organisation’s highest honorary accolade.

She grew up within the care system and advised the viewers how necessary it was to for folks from her background to be represented in movies and TV.

“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 folks like me on the display screen, I recognised myself – illustration issues.”

She said she would tell her younger self: “You matter, do not quit, the tales we inform, they’ve the facility to vary folks’s lives.

“Film changed my life, it transformed me and it led me here today. I dedicate this award to every child in care, or who has been in care and who didn’t survive.”

Speaking backstage concerning the challenges for the British movie trade, she mentioned: “We can’t just be a service industry for the wonderful Americans… we need our own investments. But if our government only gives us a culture and sports minister rather than separating that and identifying what we do… it’s a billion dollar industry. And it’s foolish of them not to understand that.”

There was some consternation concerning the former Friends star not being talked about within the In Memoriam section. But Bafta mentioned he could be included within the obituary montage for its tv awards in May.