The Baftas was a night of surprise British wins

It’s a curious quirk of the British Academy of Film and Television Awards (or Baftas, for short) that a win for a widely acclaimed performance by a British actor in a British production that was a breakout hit with British audiences can be considered to be a genuine upset. But last night’s ceremony delivered just that, with I Swear star Robert Aramayo’s surprise best actor win.

The British newcomer triumphed over the likes of favourite Timothée Chalamet, Leonardo DiCaprio and Ethan Hawke. Nobody was more shocked than the Hull-born Aramayo himself, who played the real-life Tourettes activist John Davidson in Kirk Jones’s empathetic biographical drama. And nobody was more delighted than Robert Aramayo’s dad, who was clearly having the most fun of anyone in the audience. A visibly emotional Aramayo, who had already collected the EE Bafta rising star award, voted for by members of the public, paid tribute to his fellow nominees: Hawke in particular, who, Aramayo recalled, visited his New York drama school Juilliard and gave inspirational advice to the students.

Wins like this – which celebrate homegrown talent and elevate the achievements of the British film industry – are what we hope for when we watch the Baftas. It’s a ceremony that, thanks to its prominent position towards the end of the awards calendar, can feel a little too closely aligned with the American awards circuit, both in nominations and the eventual winners. But nobody, except perhaps bookmakers and pundits, benefits from an exact dress rehearsal for the Oscars.

Other notable British triumphs included Wunmi Mosaku’s supporting actress win for Sinners, the British-Nigerian director Akinola Davies Jr’s sublime My Father’s Shadow, which won outstanding debut by a british writer, director or producer, and Hamnet, which won outstanding british film.

Another success was the presenter Alan Cumming, taking over from David Tennant, who, after a soul-sappingly unfunny video conference skit (Zoom gags are so 2020) acquitted himself rather well in his first year in the job. Highlights included some gently risqué panto-esque one-liners and a segment in which Cummings distributed British snack foods to the Hollywood A-listers (Rose Byrne, nominated for best actress for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, got the Twiglets, so perhaps she’s the night’s real winner). Cumming coped well after the ceremony’s most awkward moment when John Davidson was heard involuntarily exclaiming a racial slur as Sinners stars Delroy Lindo and Michael B Jordan presented the first award of the evening.

The losers of the evening: dresses with asymmetric bits cut out of them (why must glamour look so chilly and uncomfortable?) and politics: most of the acceptance speeches steered clear of overt political statements. Although the biggest winner of the evening was Paul Thomas Anderson’s ICE-baiting One Battle After Another (which won six prizes, including best film, best director and best adapted screenplay), which could partly be viewed as a political gesture by voters. The exception was Akinola Davies Jr, though the final part of his speech, which he dedicated to children of migrants, before calling for a free Palestine, was cut from the BBC’s broadcast.

Photographs by Alastair Grant/Invision/AP, Jed Cullen/Dave Benett/Getty Images, James McCauley/Variety via Getty Images