Tennant, Take That, and Timothee Chalamet (and Kylie Jenner): BAFTA moments everyone’s talking about

Tears, laughter and some Take That fangirling from a best actress nominee – this year’s BAFTA Film Awards had it all.

Conclave and The Brutalist were the night’s big winners, taking home four awards each – including best picture and outstanding British film for Conclave, and best actor for The Brutalist star Adrien Brody and directing award for its filmmaker, Brady Corbet.

But as always with these big entertainment awards ceremonies, there were plenty of moments to remember outside the big prizes.

Here are our BAFTA 2025 key talking points.

The return of Tennant

Hosts can make or break an awards ceremony, so when you get a good ‘un you want to keep them. After a successful stint in 2024, Doctor Who and Rivals star David Tennant was back to take the helm once again.

This time round, the Scottish actor, sporting a kilt and sporran at first, kicked things off by calling on the “BAFTA gods” – acting legends Dame Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent and Brian Cox, naturally – before a sketch performance of The Proclaimers’ hit I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles).

Of course, this needed some audience participation – including from US stars Camila Cabello, Colman Domingo and Anna Kendrick, who probably didn’t have a clue what was going on but joined in with gusto.

Tennant joked about actors “freshening up” while they age, after referencing that Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa took on his role in the BBC series, as well as the length of films such as The Brutalist (three-and-a-half hours).

“Who doesn’t like a chance to have a wee halfway through?” he asked, while talking about the film’s much-needed intermission.

Emilia Perez awards despite controversy – and Saldana’s speech

It went into awards season as one of the favourites, but Emilia Perez has been surrounded by controversy in recent weeks.

As stars Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez enjoyed the show, leading actress Karla Sofia Gascon was notably absent from the ceremony following the resurgence of offensive tweets, and the film has also come under fire for its portrayal of Mexico and of trans people.

Despite this, it picked up the BAFTAs for best film not in the English language and best supporting actress for Saldana.

Earlier this month, director Jacques Audiard said Gascon’s tweets were “inexcusable” and that he was “very sad” to see the issue “taking up all the space” around the film.

However, collecting the BAFTA for best film not in the English language, the French filmmaker namechecked all his stars, including Gascon – and blew her a kiss through his translator.

“I’m deeply proud of what we have all achieved together – long live Emilia Perez,” he said.

Read more:
The full list of winners
The BAFTA red carpet in pictures

In her speech, an emotional Saldana said the film defied categorisation and also paid tribute to her co-stars, before realising she was taking too long and being given a countdown. “F***, f***, f***”, she panicked, before continuing with her speech anyway.

Thanking her mother for “being such a selfless person”, she broke down in tears, and added: “Films are supposed to change hearts and challenge minds and I hope Emilia Perez did something like this, because voices need to be heard.”

Kylie Jenner sneaks in

We didn’t see her on the red carpet, but sneaky old Kylie Jenner, girlfriend of Timothee Chalamet, was most definitely in attendance to show her support.

The Kardashians star was in the audience next to Chalamet, who was nominated for best actor for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown.

During a break from awards announcements, Tennant spent time joking with some of the A-listers in the crowd, and the couple didn’t escape from his mic (or the cameras), despite their efforts to keep their appearance lowkey.

Referencing the Chalamet lookalike competition that made headlines in New York last year, Tennant joked about what a good likeness the “second place” doppelganger before him was – and how nice it was to have a Jenner lookalike, too.

Take That perform – and Saoirse Ronan fangirls

If you’ve seen Anora, you’ll know the filmmakers behind it are fans of Take That, specifically the 2008 hit Greatest Day.

The band, now a trio of Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald, performed the hit remix used in the film on stage at the ceremony.

As host Tennant made his way through the crowd afterwards, he came across best actress nominee Saoirse Ronan and her husband Jack Lowden.

Is Ronan a Take That fan? “I’ve seen you twice,” she shouted at the boys as they made their way off stage.

That’s a yes, then.

Kieran Culkin couldn’t attend – so Jesse Eisenberg stepped up

Following best supporting actor wins at earlier ceremonies including the Golden Globes, Kieran Culkin has been a favourite when it comes to speeches this awards season.

It was no surprise to see him honoured at the BAFTAs, but as he sadly couldn’t attend the ceremony in person, his co-star and director Jesse Eisenberg stepped up – not only collecting the award on his behalf but also delivering the laughs, too.

In A Real Pain, the pair play two very different cousins on a trip exploring their Jewish grandmother’s roots in Poland.

The BAFTA was “like the fifth” award Eisenberg has picked up for Culkin, he told the audience. “We have a similar life, but his is 20% better than mine,” he added.

Accepting the award for best original screenplay, Eisenberg also joked that his wife had not attended the ceremony as she did not think he would win.

Breakthrough star pays tribute to sex workers

After gaining a lot of support throughout the awards ceremony, Demi Moore was a favourite for a prize for her performance in The Substance. However, Mikey Madison had also gained momentum in recent weeks thanks to her breakout role as a young sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch in Anora.

This one is a particularly exciting win as Madison, 25, was also up for the rising star award for up-and-coming talent. Being nominated in a major category in the same year is quite a feat in itself – winning it even more so.

On stage, Madison thanked her mother for driving her “to so many auditions”, as well as her fellow castmates.

She also paid tribute to the sex worker community, after working with many women in the industry to perfect her performance.

“I want to take a second to recognise the sex worker community,” Madison said. “You deserve respect and decency, and I… (urge) others to do the same… I will always be a friend and an ally.”

Kneecap: ‘It’s a movement’

Irish-language film Kneecap, a semi-autobiographical story starring a trio of rappers of the same name from Belfast, picked up the award for outstanding debut for a British filmmaker.

Band member JJ O Dochartaigh always wears a balaclava featuring the Irish flag – but for the BAFTAs he went all out, matching his suit.

The award went to director and writer Rich Peppiatt, who collected the prize on stage.

“Within two weeks of moving to Belfast I met Kneecap and now I’m standing here,” he told the audience, saying his movie was “more than a film, it’s a movement – about how everyone should have their language respected, their culture respected, their homeland respected.

“This award is dedicated to everyone out there fighting that fight.”

British success and a new collab?

Here’s a look backstage at US singer-songwriter Camila Cabello and the Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl filmmakers Nick Park, left, and Merlin Crossingham.

The pair picked up the prize for best children’s and family film, becoming the first ever recipients of the award, which was presented by Cabello.

We’re hoping this could be the start of a new partnership.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl also took home the animated film trophy, with Park joking on stage: “I didn’t actually write a second speech.”

And there was more recognition for British technical creatives in other categories, too.

Nathan Crowley and Lee Sandales picked up the award for best production design, for their incredible visual work on the blockbuster smash Wicked.

Paul Lambert was on the team awarded the BAFTA for best visual effects, for his work on the science fiction blockbuster Dune: Part Two – which also won best sound, with a winning team including British mixer and engineer Gareth John.

Warwick Davis’s emotional speech

Honoured with the prestigious BAFTA fellowship award, Warwick Davis dedicated the prize to his late wife Samantha, who died in March last year.

Davis, who is known for fantasy film Willow and the Harry Potter movies, received the organisation’s highest honour for his performing and advocacy work.

“This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me – and I’ve been in Star Wars,” he joked at the start of his speech, before getting emotional as he talked about his wife and referenced his children, Annabelle and Harrison, who were in the audience.

“Thank you to the support of our wonderful children, I’ve been able to keep engaging in life,” he said.

Davis was born with spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, a rare bone disorder that results in dwarfism.

Previous recipients of the fellowship include Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Sir Alfred Hitchcock, Dame Elizabeth Taylor, Stanley Kubrick, Billy Wilder, Ken Loach, Sir Michael Caine, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Lord Laurence Olivier and Dame Judi Dench.

Look out for David Jonsson

British actor David Jonsson was named this year’s BAFTA rising star – the only award voted for by the public.

The 31-year-old recently starred in the film Alien: Romulus and his credits also include TV series Industry as well as the 2023 romantic comedy Rye Lane.

“I’ve got to be honest, this isn’t why I do it,” he told the BAFTA audience in his speech. “Do you know what I mean? I’m just an east London boy.

“I didn’t really see a space for me in this industry. But this award is about people and as long as we can keep telling stories about people I think there’s got to be a space for me.”

Jonsson saw off competition from his fellow Industry and Back To Black star Marisa Abela, American actor Jharrel Jerome, Anora’s Madison and Informer star Nabhaan Rizwan.

Previous winners include Kristen Stewart, Daniel Kaluuya, John Boyega and Tom Hardy, all before they became big names in the industry.

Sing Sing stars visas denied, filmmakers say

This wasn’t a moment from the ceremony, but on the red carpet ahead of the awards the filmmakers behind Sing Sing, which tells the true story of a group of men who take part in an arts rehabilitation project at a maximum security prison, spoke to Sky News on the red carpet.

While Colman Domingo, an established Hollywood star who was nominated for best actor, was able to attend the ceremony, the real-life person he portrayed in the film, Divine G Whitfield, was not – and neither was his co-star Clarence Maclin.

Maclin is a former inmate who played himself in the film, after being rehabilitated through the programme, and was nominated for best supporting actor.

Both were denied denied entry to the UK earlier this week due to their previous convictions, filmmakers Greg Kwedar and Clint Bentley said.

“Their visas were denied to enter the country because they have served prison time, which goes against the grain of everything this movie stands for,” Kwedar told us. “It shows that people have the capacity to grow and to come back into their communities when they leave prison.

“These two particular men have such courage, vulnerability, integrity – and they’re not here tonight and they should be. The story is about them, it was built with them.”