Who says film awards ceremonies can’t also be fun and surprising? Sunday’s BAFTA Film Awards ceremony in London, hosted by Scottish actor David Tennant (Doctor Who, Inside Man), had members of the crowd in a state of surprise thanks to an unannounced appearance, on roller skates, by Ted Lasso star Nick Mohammed, performing as Mr. Swallow, his alter ego from England’s Leeds, a character he has portrayed across stage and TV for more than a decade.
For those not familiar with the character, he quipped that he was a mix of British ice skaters “Torvill and Dean and the crab from The Little Mermaid.” He also described Ted Lasso as “a TV horror about biscuits and the effects of having a mustache on your mental health.”
Even the runup to Sunday’s film honors had industry folks buzzing with anticipation. After all, many were arriving at the venue, the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, looking forward to English singer-songwriter Sophie Ellis-Bextor performing her 2001 smash hit “Murder on the Dancefloor,” featured in Emerald Fennell’s BAFTA-nominated film Saltburn, and a promised musical number performed by Mohammed’s Ted Lasso co–star Hannah Waddingham.
Among the pre-announced presenters for the star-studded BAFTA night were such celebrities as David Beckham, Cate Blanchett, Dua Lipa, Idris Elba, Hugh Grant and Gillian Anderson.
Of course, the 77th BAFTA film honors are not just about performances, but also the famous mask trophies awarded to winners.
Christopher Nolan’s biographical epic Oppenheimer is leading the pack of the 2024 BAFTA film nominees with 13 nominations, followed by Yorgos Lanthimos’ black-comedy science fantasy Poor Things with 11 noms. Martin Scorsese’s Western crime drama Killers of the Flower Moon received nine BAFTA nods, tying with Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest.
Last year, Netflix’s German antiwar epic All Quiet on the Western Front made good on its record number of BAFTA nominations with a haul of seven wins, including for best film, best director and best adapted screenplay.