Bafta Film Awards 2018 - as it happened

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22.23: And on that bombshell, I think this'll be it for the live blog, as we are starting to be herded, blinking, into the streetlit night as the Royal Albert Hall closes up shop.

It's been a pleasure chatting films with you, and I hope you've enjoyed the relentless parade of nominees and poorly-rendered gifs I've sent your way over the past 7 hours. Personally, I've had an absolute ball, except for the cruel exclusion of Paddington from awards consideration.

Until next time, live well, watch films and remember - always check which envelope you're supposed to be reading from when you're about to make an important announcement onstage.

Good night!

22.15: This is too true. Have to say, they were among the better presenters - gags still a bit weak, but at least they put some welly into it.

22.11: Does make you wonder how they normally get through scripts on set, no doubt.

22.08: And here's some of that weird insect dancing.

22.05: If you can cast your mind back a few hours - remember how I mentioned Timothée Chalamet did an adorable awkward pirouette on the red carpet to chat to Edith Bowman? The internet has preserved it for posterity.

https://giphy.com/gifs/BAFTA-eebaftas-x4ACPkwCTWsg34RnC8

Surely this should pick up at least ONE honorary Bafta for something.

22.04: Told Frances McDormand isn't doing any of the backstage chats after collecting her award, so this does ring true...

22.00: Always weird seeing people on Twitter reacting to the awards now, as they're shown on TV, a couple of hours after we had them! Hopefully no-one came to this by accident and had the night spoiled for them...

21.53: Back to tonight - fairly tame ceremony, all in all, save one brilliant gag from Salma Hayek (you know, the one where she announced the wrong winner for Best Actor. Imagine that wasn't planned).

Joanna Lumley was surprisingly tame as a host - maybe all the uproars after Stephen Fry's gags over the years have made them a bit gun-shy - and they were no massive flubs or mistakes worth noticing. Pretty vanilla, then.

21.46: With regards to the Oscars, we should also remember the shortlists are slightly different, so we could see winners who didn't have a shot here. Case in point: Greta Gerwig and Jordan Peele might be in with a chance of Best Director, and there are a lot more films in the Best Picture category which could run away with it.

Also, Logan is in Best Adapted Screenplay! Long shot, but how great would it be if it won?

21.45: We've all been there.

21.40: So, what can we take from tonight? Actually not that many surprises in the main awards tonight, though Three Billboards winning both Best British Film and Best Film is quite the run. Especially considering it's not THAT British really, is it?

Acting awards were all as expected - all four stars seem like a lock for those categories in the Oscars now - and nice for Daniel Kaluuya to win the Rising Star.

Can anything topple Three Billboards at the Oscars? Well, its slightly iffy racial politics (for a film that's partially about racism, there are no major black characters) might cause it some trouble across the pond, in which case The Shape of Water might have more of a shot. Didn't cause it that much difficulty here though, so who knows?

21.38: Joanna Lumley caps off the night with a call to her predecessor Stephen Fry.

"Stephen, if you're watching - I hope this was all right."

And that was the night! Now just everyone zooming off to parties.

21.36: Round of applause when Ridley mentions his late brother Tony, director of Top Gun among other films.

21.33: He tells a long story about his route through the industry, and talks about how he got into art school with limited grades, which wouldn't happen today.

21.31: An emotional Ridley Scott jokes that he's never won one of these awards before, which he wonders if they're giving to him "before its too late".

Says he could never be an actor because he never knows the lines.

21.29: Back in the press centre, Allison Janney has revealed that the makeup scene in I, Tonya - which I believe I used as a gif earlier in the night - was totally improv-d by Margot Robbie, and done in one take.

Meanwhile, Sam Rockwell gives a guide to keeping things light when playing a racist police officer - he and his black co-stars told "nerdy theatre stories and cracked jokes" to wind down after intense scenes.

21.27: Love the inclusion of Rutger Hauer's speech from Blade Runner in this.

21.26: Tees up a compilation, including John Hurt's, er, memorable chestburster scene in the first Alien.

21.24: Final award of the night - Bafta Fellowship going to Sir Ridley Scott, presented by Bafta President Prince William. Describes Ridley as a "true cinema great" and whose films are "my own favourites."

Ken Branagh rocks up to talk more about Ridley, for some reason. He lists off some of his unforgettable female characters like Ridley, Thelma and Louise and many more.

21.22: Martin McDonagh says his film is an angry one, and that it shows sometimes you need to get angry to make the world change. "Thank you, and goodnight."

They kind of already got their thank yous out of the way when they won Outstanding British Film.

21.21: Three Billboards wins! Quite the conquerer this year.

21.19: The mystery Best Film presenter has been revealed as...Daniel Craig.

The nominations, meanwhile, are:

Call Me By Your Name
Darkest Hour
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Dunkirk

Three Billboards should take this, based on the night so far.

21.16: del Toro thanks Bafta for his per diem yesterday, which allowed him to buy lots of black pudding.

Talks about the legacy of Powell and Pressburger in his film, and thanks "the miracle that is Sally Hawkins." She based her voiceless performance on Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel.

Thanks Mary Shelley as well, describes her as like family.

It makes sense he's won this - The Shape of Water is the perfect Venn diagram of artistry and technical difficulty in that shortlist.

21.15: The Bafta for Best Director goes to...

Guillermo del Toro, for The Shape of Water. Called it!

21.13: Now the penultimate award of the night - Best Director. Naomie Harris and Sir Patrick Stewart here to present it.

Nominees are:

Denis Villeneuve, Blade Runner 2049
Luca Guadagnino, Call Me By Your Name
Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
Guillermo Del Toro, The Shape of Water
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Could this be Nolan's? I'm not so sure. Based on the night so far, it seems natural for it to be Michael McDonagh. But I'm going to plump for Guillermo del Toro.

21.10: Frances acknowledges that she's not wearing black, but says she's standing in solidarity anyway. Notes all the real-life groups using the billboards idea to protest their own injustices.

She was told at drama school that she was "not naturally gifted" and would have to work at it. "And so I did."

Thanks people for helping her realise her "Hidden potential."

"Who would have thought Marge Gunderson would grow up to be Mildred Hayes? Power to the people."

Probably the best speech of the night.

21.09: Yep, it goes to Frances McDormand for Three Billboards. She's surely a lock for the Oscar now?

21.07: To present Leading Actress, it's Chiwetel Ejiofor, who won for Best Actor four years ago.

The candidates here are:

Annette Bening, Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird

Frances McDormand basically has her name inscribed on this already.

21.05: Gary Oldman pays tribute to the "armada of talent" in this film, especially director Joe Wright. Last but not least, thanks Winston Churchill himself. Nice to think he might be at home watching, eh?

He leaves the stage on the edge of tears.

21.02: Forgot Jamie Bell was nominated here. Another year, he might have been a bigger contender.

And the award goes to... Frances McDormand?!?! "No, just kidding," says Hayek.

Oldman wins.

21.01: Here to present Leading Actor is Salma Hayek!

"In this very important and legendary year for women, I am here to celebrate...a man."

Nominees are:

Daniel Day Lewis, Phantom Thread
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
Jamie Bell, Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool
Timothee Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name

Gary Oldman will win this.

20.59: Roger Deakins, indeed, wins for Blade Runner 2049. Get in! Denis Villeneuve accepts as Deakins is off shooting somewhere else.

"I owe him a lot - we made this movie together," says Denis

20.58: Best Cinematogrpaher now, presented by a slightly gruff Dennis Quaid.

Nominees are:

Roger Deakins, Blade Runner 2049
Bruno Delbonnel, Darkest Hour
Hoyte van Hoytema, Dunkirk
Dan Laustsen, The Shape of Water
Ben Davis, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

It has to be living legend Deakins - it's one of those "we've overlooked you for years so will give this to you for literally anything" deals, I think. Blade Runner 2049 did look incredible.

20.56: Martin McDonagh thanks "his muse" Sam Rockwell and Frances McDormand for her "unapologetic" performance.

We're also now only a few minutes away til the ceremony starts being broadcast on TV - just think of those people at home, living in the past.

20.55: Three Billboards wins it! Looks like it might be the big winner of the night.

20.52: Best Original Screenplay now, presented by About a Boy co-stars Rachel Weisz and Nicholas Hoult. More awkward banter.

Here are the nominees! Cannot think of a less repetitive way to say that.

Jordan Peele, Get Out
Steve Rogers, I, Tonya
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Guillermo Del Toro, Vanessa Taylor, The Shape of Water
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

I hope Get Out wins, but I feel like it'll be Three Billboards or Shape of Water.

(Yes, saying three of five nominees is a bit of a cheat, but shush. My blog.)

20.51: Sound designer Christian Cooke thanks the British Academy for this "vote of confidence", and namechecks director Christopher Nolan. It was Cooke's 207th film, and his last film before retirement. Very sweet - hope he wins the Oscar too and really goes out with a (very carefully recorded and mixed) bang.

20.50: Dunkirk wins! Dunkirk finally won something!

20.48: Now back to the awards with Best Sound! Sam Claflin and Will Poulter presenting this one, and Sam is dissing people who watch films on IPads. Guiltyyyy.

Nominees are:

Baby Driver
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Baby Driver and Blade Runner 2049 getting a god response in the auditorium. I'd say Dunkirk.

20.47: Ending on Sir Roger Moore saying "Goodnight" is a nice touch.

20.45: God, I forgot George A Romero died this year. And poor old Bill Paxton.

20.44: The obituaries reel running now - always very sad. Includes Arrival composer Johann Johannson, who only died about a week ago.

20.41: The Bafta goes to Alison Janney! Hooray! She's choked up in tears as she thanks Bafta, and says she wants to clear up a little lie she's been peddling for the last 30 years - she pretended to have graduated from RADA when she actually went there for a 2-week course!

Couldn't get a gif of Alison Janney in I, Tonya, so that's co-star Margot Robbie above.

20.38: "The only way this night could get more British is if a Tardis suddenly appeared, and out popped Jane Austen to apologise for the sleet." - he's a funny guy. And clearly happy to help us cater to our core RadioTimes.com Whovian audience.

Nominees here are:

Alison Janney, I, Tonya
Kristin Scott Thomas, Darkest Hour
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread
Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

20.37: Joanna Lumley notes that Lily and Gemma left the envelope - "this could cause some awkward mix-ups later." Couldn't go without a La La Land/Moonlight reference tonight.

Next up, Bryan Cranston is here to present Best Supporting Actress, which seems like Allison Janney's property at this stage.

He says "OK, we get it....you're classy Britain."

20.35: Rungano Nyoni seems pretty thrown! She says the win was totally unexpected. Forgets to thank cast and crew, gets a laugh from the audience.

Thanks all the people who turned her down, "because it really spurred me on," and then says thank you to a few people in Welsh.

20.33: Lot of explanation for this one!

And the Bafta goes to...Rungano Nyoni (writer/director) and Emily Morgan (producer), from I Am Not a Witch.

I do like these slightly idiosyncratic award categories we have at the Baftas.

20.31: Gemma Arterton and Lily James thank crowd for standing up for "justice and equality" tonight.

They're here to present Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer.

Nominees are:

Gareth Tunley (writer/director/producer), Jack Healy Guttman & Tom Meetman (producers), The Ghoul
Rungano Nyoni (writer/director), Emily Morgan (producer), I Am Not a Witch
Johnny Harris (writer/producer), Thomas Napper (director), Jawbone
Lucy Cohen (director), Kingdom of Us

20.29: VFX folks from Blade Runner call making the film a "labour of love", thank director Denis Villeneuve and original Blade Runner director Ridley Scott.

20.28: The winner is...Blade Runner 2049! Very fair.

20.26: Special Visual Effects now presented by two people used to films full of them - Karen Gillan and Taron Egerton! Gillan has already yelled at the VFX specialists and called them "geeks" who fear natural light. Good luck in Infinity War when they're animating your fight scenes.

Nominees are:

Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
War for the Planet of the Apes

Dunkirk maybe? I'd like Star Wars to win but Star Wars never wins. Hell, maybe it'll be the Shape of Water Again, it wins everything else.

20.23: Bafta goes to the team from The Shape of Water. They're not doing too badly so far.

20.22: Rebecca Ferguson and Toby Jones now here to present the Bafta for Best Production Design.

Nominees are:

Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer, Beauty and the Beast
Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola, Blade Runner 2049
Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer, Darkest Hour
Nathan Crowley, Garry Fettis, Dunkirk
Paul Austerberry, Jeff Melvin, Shane Vieau, The Shape of Water

I'm gonna say....Dunkirk, maybe? I'd like it to be Blade Runner 2049. Hard to get a read on this category.

20.21: He concludes: "This is for my pal Alan Rickman. I'll see you at the bar, thank you."

20.20: Says he stands there because of "everyone who believed in me". He quotes Alan Rickman - says "there are no good actors, only good roles:, and thanks "annoyingly handsome" writer/director Martin McDonagh. Also pays tribute to the women in his life who helped get him to where he is today.

20.18: The Bafta goes to...Sam Rockwell. No surprises there.

20.16: Lupita Nyong'o now here to present Best Supporting Actor. Are the whole Black Panther cast here tonight? I guess they were in town.

Anyway, nominees are:

Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World
Hugh Grant, Paddington 2
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

This is Sam Rockwell's to lose. Would love Hugh Grant to win though.

20.15: James Ivory talking about his "luck" in getting the CMBYN gig. Short and sweet speech, he seems quite emotional.

20.14: And the Bafta goes to...Call Me By Your Name! I'll take that. Wonderful film.

20.11: Now, Gug Mbatha-Raw and Orlando Bloom here to present Best Adapted Screenplay.

Nominees are:

James Ivory, Call Me By Your Name
Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin, David Schneider, The Death of Stalin
Matt Greenhalgh, Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool
Aaron Sorkin, Molly’s Game
Paul King, Simon Farnaby, Paddington 2

Tough call, this. My heart says Paddington, my head says Call Me By Your Name.

20.10: The Bafta goes to...The Handmaiden! Didn't get that one, lads. I'm ashamed. Adaptation of Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, but transported to South Korea.

20.08: Andrea Riseborough (who once stepped on my foot, fact fans) is here to present Best Film Not In The English Language.

Nominees are:

Elle
First They Killed My Father
The Handmaiden
Loveless
The Salesman

Not sure about this one... maybe Elle? Or Loveless.

20.06: Cowboy Dave wins this one. Fun fact - Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi has an Oscar for directing a short film, so we could be looking at a future Time Lord right here. That's how showbiz works, right?

20.05: Now Short Film. Nominees are:

Aamir
Cowboy Dave
A Drowning Man
Work
Wren Boys

20.03: Bafta goes to Poles Apart.

20.01: Anya Taylor-Joy and Letitia Wright now coming to announce the winners of Best British Short Animation and Best British Short Film.

Nominees for animation are...

Have Heart
Mamoon
Poles Apart

Not going to try and guess this one to be honest.

19.58: NFTS' Jon Wardle noting quite a few of the nominees in tonight went to the school, including Blade Runner cinematographer Roger Deakins. If Deakins does win in his category for Blade Runner 2049, as expected, he'll be a nice addition to their newsletter.

19.57: Delivering these snippets from the winners' press conference is RadioTimes.com's own Rising Star Ellie Harrison, by the way.

19.55: Backstage, Daniel Kaluuya lets off some steam.

"Am I allowed to swear now? F***ing hell man, it's mental!"

19.53: Joanna Lumley is a bit of a damp squib, isn't she? Anyway, now Celia Imrie is here to award the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema. National Film and Television School is the pre-announced recipient of this one. Little film about the NFTS.

19.51: I Am Not Your Negro wins! On a roll, so I am.

Director Raoul Peck says he's "honoured and humbled" and, perhaps inspired by the previous award, thanks his editors along with other collaborators and Samuel L Jackson, who did the voiceover.

Also thanks the late James Baldwin's whose unfinished 1970s manuscript inspired the doc.

19.50: Now, Best Documentary. Nominees are...

City of Ghosts
I Am Not Your Negro
Icarus
An Inconvenient Sequel
Jane

I'm not too up on these this year, but I'm going to plump for I Am Not Your Negro.

19.46: Bafta goes to Baby Driver! Nice one.

19.43: Lee Unkrich of Coco gives a nice speech about diversity on screen. Now, Best Editing presented by Hayley Squires and Natalie Dormer. Baby Driver or Dunkirk are my guesses, but here are the full nominees.

Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss, Baby Driver
Joe Walker, Blade Runner 2049
Lee Smith, Dunkirk
Sidney Wolinsky, The Shape of Water
Jon Gregory, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

19.42: In the press room, Three Billboards director Martin McDonagh can't believe he was up so early - "I thought they did the rubbish awards first!"

19.41: Oh my stars, shock twist - Coco won?!?!?! JK that was literally a foregone conclusion. Great film.

19.40: Next up, the Coco award, aka Best Animated Film.

Nominees:

Coco
Loving Vincent
My Life as a Courgette

19.39: Ha, no way, Phantom Thread (aka Mark Bridge) did win! I am on fire tonight.

19.37: Bizarrely, the next two awards bundled together are costume design and animated film. Presented by Edward Holcroft and Tom Taylor (off of Doctor Foster.

Nominees are:

Jacqueline Durran, Beauty and the Beast
Jacqueline Durran, Darkest Hour
Jennifer Johnson, I, Tonya
Mark Bridges, Phantom Thread
Luis Sequeira, The Shape of Water

Be quite bants if this went to Phantom Thread, seeing as it's about a designer.

19.35: Bafta goes to Darkest Hour! Makes sense - big physical transformation for Gary Oldman.

These are usually the sort of speeches they skip through a bit in the live TV broadcast by the way, so you're getting a bit extra here.

19.34: Now we're on to Hair and Makeup, with the same presenters. Nominees are...

Donald Mowat, Kerry Warn, Blade Runner 2049
David Malinowski, Ivana Primorac, Lucy Sibbick, Kazuhiro Tsuji, Darkest Hour
Debora La Mia Denaver, Deruitha Lee, I, Tonya
Daniel Phillips, Victoria & Abdul
Naomi Bakstad, Robert A. Pandini, Arjen Tuiten, Wonder

19.32: I was right! Shape of Water takes it, Alexandre Desplat heads up to collect the award. He says "what a venue for music" the Royal Albert Hall is.

Just hearing the score again in the clip they showed before the award confirmed this win for me - it stays with you in a way lots of film scoring just doesn't.

19.31: Sergei Polunin and Gemma Chan now here to present the best original music award. Hope Shape of Water wins this.

Here are the nominees:

Blade Runner
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Phantom Thread
The Shape of Water

19.29: Daniel mentions the countdown for him to finish his speech, cackles and says sorry for "breaking the rules" laid down earlier.

He thanks his mum and says to her - "this award, it's yours."

19.27: Daniel says hi to London, admits he's "gone blank" - says its a "privilege" to be in the company of his fellow nominees.

Talks about being the product of arts funding in the UK, which got him to where he is today.

19.27: And the winner is...Daniel Kaluuya!

19.24: Margot Robbie and Octavia Spencer now here to present the EE Rising Star award. Joanna makes a crack about Margot being her niece, as she played her dotty aunt in the Wolf of Wall Street a few years ago.

Here are the nominees:

Daniel Kaluuya
Florence Pugh
Josh O’Connor
Tessa Thompson
Timothée Chamalet

19.23: For anyone wondering why Three Billboards can be in this category when it's so American, it's to do with the funding from Film4 in the UK, I believe.

19.21: And the award goes to...Three Billboards! Interesting choice - wonder if that means they won't get Best Film now.

19.20: Pretty sure they put a spoiler for Paddington 2 in its clip! Oh dear. Big cheer for Three Billboards - would be a bit of a controversial winner if it won.

19.18: First award of the night - Outstanding British Film, presented by a fairly subdued Jennifer Lawrence. Come on, Paddington!!

Here are the nominees:

Darkest Hour
The Death of Stalin
God’s Own Country
Lady Macbeth
Paddington 2
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

19.17: Lots of films not nominated for anything (or at least much) in that round-up, including Battle of the Sexes and Wonder Woman.

19.16: The PORG got a featuring role in the 2017 film round-up! Best Porg in a Supporting Role.

19.14: Hugh Grant has some quality spectacles on tonight, and Joanna is giving him both barrels for his Paddington 2 performance.

"Quite how Hugh managed to play a vain, egocentric actor is beyond me..."

19.12: Daniel Kaluuya gets the biggest cheer of the night when Joanna picks on him in the audience. Hope he wins something - I'd say he had a good shot in EE Rising Star, but there are a LOT of strong contenders with plenty of fans who'd vote for them. Fingers crossed.

19.10: So far she's fairly serious - talking about the importance of Times Up, all the under-served behind-the-scenes folks who are honoured tonight.

Though she's now joking that Gary Oldman also wore prosthetics to play Wonder Woman, Yoda (SPOILERS!!!) and Lego Batman. So maybe I spoke too soon.

19.09: Host Joanna Lumley is taking to the stage, after hastily fixing her lipstick in the reflection of a Bafta backstage. Hope she's good!

19.05: Cirque du Soleil are now doing a Shape of Water-inspired performance. Utter favouritism I say. Where's the Paddington 2-inspired tap dance???

19.02: Oh gawd, they're doing some sort of sketch about Joanna Lumley being the new Bafta host, where she rings up various characters in the Bafta-nominated films (using real footage cut from them). Few laughs now that Stalin is ringing her up.

18.59: Jane Lush, Bafta biggerwig, is now up delivering a speech paying tribute to Times Up, talking about former Bafta Brit to watch Daniel Kaluuya and quipping that the 2-hour gap between the ceremony and its TV broadcast will give Ridley Scott plenty of time to re-shoot the whole thing to avoid embarassments.

18.55: Bafta bigwig is currently onstage telling everyone to keep their speeches short, but not mention the "wrap it up" message blaring up at them from the autocue, because that's "a bit naff".

He's also telling the Brits to "summon their inner American" and whoop and holler throughout the night, keep the energy up.

18.53: So - what could be the big shocks this year? Unlike last year, there' no La La Land-style frontrunner, so in a way it's harder for there to be any snubs.

The thing to remember is that sometimes the Bafta voters go for more homegrown talent - last year, for example, Mahershala Ali was beaten out for Best Supporting Actor by Dev Patel, despite cleaning up in that category at almost every other awards do.

18.46: Anyway, that's yer lot from the red carpet! Now we just have a bit of a wait for the main ceremony.

18.44: Edith and Dermot making some slight digs at Trump there. Can't wait for the angry tweets at 2am. "Dancin' Dermot can't even keep the X Factor relevant - SAD!!"

Anyway, all that joking around is because Bafta's own President, the Duke of Cambridge, aka Prince William, is rocking up with the Duchess of Cambridge, aka the former Kate Middleton. Maybe Wills can give Helena Bonham Carter some tips on playing his great aunt in The Crown.

18.40: I have just been handed the running order for tonight's ceremony - up first is Outstanding British Film, presented by Jennifer Lawrence. Best Director and Best Film are righhhttt at the end, and the latter doesn't have a presenter attached suggesting it'll be a surprise big star (was it Tom Cruise last year? I think it was).

18.36: Repping I, Tonya it's She, Margot!

18.33: I'm not struggling QUITE so much with Saoirse Ronan, as she helpfully told us how to pronounce it - like inertia - when she was on Saturday Night Live a few weeks back. See,Timothée, that's the way to do it.

18.30: Edith is interviewing Timothée Chalamet, who not only stars in both Call Me By Your Name and Lady Bird, but also did an adorable twirl round to find her after he almost wandered in the wrong direction.

Minor obsession this year – how best to pronounce Timothée Chalamet’s name?

I’ve spent the last few weeks pronouncing it Tim-oh-tay Chalamet because I vaguely recall reading somewhere that he said that’s what “cool” people did (and obviously I want him to think I’m cool), but then I read a profile of him in GQ (which was very good, by the way) when he said it was just pronounced Timothy.

So now I’m caught in a quandary. Do I keep pronouncing it in a way that may make people think I’m incredibly pretentious, on the offchance that it’s correct? Or shall I throw in the towel and just pronounce it like Timothy, but then look like I’m lazily anglicising it, like one of those people on holiday who just yells GARCON!! GARCON!! at the waiters then loudly and slowly just speaks in English to them?

Answers on a postcard. I’m going to talk about films again now.

18.26: Support from Mr Brown's co-star here.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfWRFcTAnLd/

18.25: Andy Serkis is here in an ENTIRELY black suit, shirt and all. At least he's not covered in motion-capturing ping-pong balls.

18.23: Sally Hawkins here, noting that both the films she's been in lately - The Shape of Water and Paddington 2, both nominated tonight - involved her diving underwater for emotional embraces with anthropomorphised animals. Lot of fish tank work.

Could she get Best Actress later tonight? I reckon she's in with a shot, though it's Frances McDormand's to lose really.

18.20: That is a TERRIFIC facial expression.

18.16: Bit of a scoop from Sarah on the red carpet - God's Own Country star Josh O'Connor has revealed that production on the BBC's big Les Mis drama starts very soon, as he's being picked up for filming tomorrow. In other words, there's only ONE DAY MOOOOOORRREEE!

(Je suis desolé)

18.10: Yeah, this goes on for a while...

Still, Angelina Jolie's turned up now, so that's something. And the Green Goblin! Er I mean respected character actor Willem Dafoe.

18.05: Weird quirk of tonight's awards - Gary Oldman's son has TWO parents Bafta-nominated, because his mother - Lesley Manville - is up for the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in Phantom Thread.

Oldman Jr says "she's very excited, as we all are". Quite the family affair - and Gary has also just revealed his new grandson has been named Winston, presumably after his role as Churchill in Darkest Hour. Now THAT'S commitment.

17.59: Gemma Chan off of that there Humans is here with Laura Bates from the Everyday Sexism project. Definitely the theme of the night!

Gemma's presenting the hair & makeup and composing awards - back to back! They do this for some of the more technical awards, and she's worried about awkwardly having to step off and step back on again.

17.57: WHO'S that girl???

17.54: Dermz is chatting to Hayley Squires, who you can also watch in BBC drama Collateral tomorrow. She's writing a film about three generations of women in the same family.

17.50: Superstar producer Dame Pippa Harris has been chatting to RadioTimes.com's Sarah Doran, and revealed that tonight's episode of Call the Midwife is actually directed by a woman who was supported through a Bafta scheme - so that's nice! She's also very happy to support Times Up tonight.

Here's my question - is there an errant apostrophe missing from Times Up somewhere? Answers on an e-card.

17.47: It seems fair to say the fans behind P-Stew look pretty....engaged.

17.45: Still waiting for confirmation on whether Sam does indeed Rock well.

He's being interviewed by Dermot on the livestream now as we speak - Sam's the frontrunner for Best Supporting Actor, and if he won he'd join Ben Kingsley in the elite group of Oscar-winning Iron Man villains. Quite the lofty group to join.

17.42: Gemma Arterton is here with two women who used to work at a car factory in Dagenham, and went on strike in 1968 for equal pay.

Their story was made into a film, Made in Dagenham, in 2010 and then adapted into a musical which starred - you guessed it - Gemma herself. Nice that she's still in touch!

17.41: Apologies for the slight delay on this live blog, by the way - we're having some technical difficulties that we're HOPING will be sorted out in a short while.

17.37: Anya Taylor-Joy has been waxing lyrical about the Shape of Water, but given that film's subject matter all this talk of how it made her "blubber" just makes me think of whaling.

Letitia Wright, who she's presenting an award with later, says she's "just hoping Daniel [Kaluuya] wins something." They were co-stars in Black Panther.

No, Letitia is dropping hints about her character Shuri's appearance in Avengers: Infinity War. Literally EVERY Marvel character seems to be in that one...

17.33: Margaery Tyrell lives!!!

17.32: As expected, a lot of Times Up pins on the red carpet tonight - also why a lot of the guests are wearing black, I believe. Well, the women - most of the men would PROBABLY have been stuck wearing black anyway.

17.29: Fair to say Dermot looks pretty "Throne" after that interview with the lovely Natalie Dormer, eh? Eh? Guys?

No, don't go, I'll be better, I promise...

Black Panther's Letitia Wright has also just rocked up in what I assume is a remote-piloted vibranium car, while Simon Farnaby, who co-wrote Paddington 2, is getting a grilling from Edith.

17.21: Might have misheard, but I think I just heard Edgar Wright say that Baby Driver 2 is "in the works" - he's writing it at the moment. To cast off my carefully-cultivated veneer of sneer for a moment, that's actually pretty exciting! I really enjoyed that film, nice to see it getting some recognition tonight even if it is just in the technical categories.

17.20: Edith and Dermot are interviewing Baby Driver director Edgar Wright, which also for some reason entails Dermot rubbing him down with a big brush. You don't get THAT kind of service at the Oscars.

17.16: Andrea Riseborough is spilling ALL THE TEA (as the kids say) in this interview with Edith Bowman - says womens' rights were worse in 2017 than in 2013.

Behind-the-scenes fact - this interview isn't actually live, they pre-recorded it about half an hour ago when Andrea first arrived. Who knows what Edith is REALLY up to at this very moment? It's that frisson of the unexpected that really keeps all Bafta fans on their toes.

17.11: Dermz is now quizzing Kristen Scott Thomas about all things Darkest Hour, which she stars in with Gary Oldman. He has the cheek to ask her if she's had time to watch the films - but of course she has, because she's a Bafta voter!

17.05: Still more dancing....

17.00: Dermot O'Leary and Edith Bowman are starting off their coverage from the red carpet. And now they've thrown to some highlights for last year, which will presumably include how I crouched typing away in a DIFFERENT back room away from the main action.

16.59: Got out answer on those insects, by the way

16.50: Here's the kind of behind-the-scenes goss you're presumably all hungry for - Dermot O'Leary is pulling funny faces and poses at the camera as he limbers up to go live. Classic Dermz.

16.45: And we're off! The red carpet seems to have opened to allow an infestation of enormous insects, or at least dancers dressed like them. Have the cast of James and the Giant Peach gone riot? Or have the ballgowns just become ever more avant-garde this year? Who can say.

16.44: Daniel Kaluuya is, unusually, up for two awards tonight - Best Actor and the EE Rising Star Award. Surely the odds are in his favour then, right?

Well, maybe not according to the man himself, who pointed out on Friday (when he appeared on the Graham Norton show) that celebrities with even more nominations in award ceremonies can still miss out.

“I mean it happened to Craig David at the Brits” Kaluuya joked. “Do you remember when Craig David was nominated for six Brits and he got nothing?”
Fingers crossed Daniel has bit better luck tonight, takes home at least SOME silverware and, in the style of Mr David, is able to chill for the rest of this Sunday.

16.33: Hmm, sounds like we MIGHT not be seeing the bright and the beautiful (or at least, the British) actors on the red carpet until 5, a bit later than I promised you earlier.

I'm sorry to have truly broken the sacrament of trust that exists between every live blogger and his audience. If it is within my earthly power, such a slap in the face of live-blogging tradition will never happen again.

16.30: For my part, I’d agree with a fair few of Ben's predictions – Kaluuya winning the Rising Star, which is the only award voted for by the public, seems likely while Oldman and McDormand seem like locks for their main prizes – but I’m not so sure about whether Christopher Nolan will win the double for Dunkirk.

It’s a very British film and he’s a homegrown hero, but I just feel like it’s a bit too off-the-wall compared to other more traditional films in the running. Also, it was out quite a long time ago, and memories of it may have faded a little.

Still, I’ve been wrong before, and it tends to be much harder to predict the motives of Bafta voters than Oscar voters, so Ben could be right. He’s certainly put a lot more research into it than I, just typing without looking anything up, just have.

Personally, I just hope he’s spot-on about Paddington 2 getting some love – it didn’t qualify for the Oscars this year as it came out in the States too late, so its nominations here are its one shot at awards glory in 2018.

16.24: So – who’s going to win tonight? RadioTimes.com’s own Ben Allen has been thinking about it, and here are his picks for the main gongs:

Best Film – Dunkirk

Best Director – Christopher Nolan

Best Actress – Frances McDormand

Best Actor – Gary Oldman

Best Supporting Actress – Lesley Manville

Best Supporting Actor – Sam Rockwell

Outstanding British Film – Paddington 2

EE Rising Star award – Daniel Kaluuya

Original Screenplay – Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Adapted Screenplay – James Ivory, Call Me By Your Name

Do you think he's on the money?

16.19: Still no sign of the stars on the red carpet.

16.14: Speaking of the #MeToo movement, earlier today a load of British female actors - including future Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker, Emma Watson, Eleanor Tomlinson from Poldark and many others - released an open letter pledging their support for the Times Up movement, which strives to end harassment and inequality related to gender.

190 people signed it in total, many of whom will be here tonight, so expect a lot of chat on that topic along the red carpet and in some of the speeches.

16.00: As we speak, our very own showbiz news hound Sarah Doran is walking the EE Baftas red carpet - and she's very nicely done a little guide for viewers at home to see what it's like there. Watch away!

15.41: And happily for me (and my ability to ramble on this live blog for several hours) it's looking to be an interesting year for the Baftas. For once the shortlist is pretty different to that nominations for the Oscars, with films like Get Out, The Post, The Disaster Artist and Lady Bird picking up fewer nominations (or none at all) in favour of more homegrown hits.

Unfortunately, this has also led the British Academy to look a little less forward-thinking than the American Academy, with Best Director Oscar nominees Jordan Peele and Greta Gerwig ignored here making for an all-male shortlist like the one criticised by Natalie Portman at the Golden Globes. Awkward.

Meanwhile, the #MeToo campaign to draw attention to sexual assault will definitely have an impact on the night's speeches, as might some of the latest controversial decisions by US President Donald Trump. Sometimes the BBC has to cut down the overly-political stuff for broadcast because of its’ commitment to impartiality, so stick with me kid – I’ll give you the unfiltered good stuff.

15.30: Good afternoon, hello and welcome to the 71st British Academy Film Awards! My name's Huw, and for the next few hours I'll be your personal IMDB and guide to all the filmic flimflam going on throughout tonight's ceremony. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty excited to see some professional pretenders awkwardly hold droopy golden masks.

The celebs should be arriving on the red carpet in the next 45 minutes (around 4.15pm), where they'll find themselves greeted by RadioTimes.com's own Sarah Doran, before heading inside the Royal Albert Hall for the main ceremony at about 6.45pm.

The ceremony itself will be broadcast on BBC1 later on tonight at 9.00pm, but why would you watch that??? You'll be behind the times, won't get to see all the awkward mistakes they cut out AND you'll miss the boring long speeches from the sound editors and other technical winners that they usually just smush together in a package at the end. No, this live blog is the place for all your Bafta-appreciating needs, trust me. I wouldn't lie.