Awards Whispers: anonymous voters give their frank take on the Baftas ceremony, the host and the winners

Screen’s group of anonymous Bafta voters reflect on an eventful evening, including their thoughts on host Alan Cumming, how the In Memoriam segment could be handled, which awards surprised and pleased them, and what they are looking out for as we head into the final stretch of the awards race. 

Producer 1, female, Bafta voter

What did you make of the Bafta Film Awards ceremony from an entertainment point of view?
I attended in person, and though it’s a long ceremony, I thought they made a good effort to include some great presenters, a really fun and unexpected musical number, and kept up the pace. Just don’t get me started on what BBC kept in and cut out in their edit…

Did you think Alan Cumming was a good host? Would you be happy for him to do it again?
I did, though it would be nice to have a woman hosting next. Hannah Waddingham?

What/who surprised you in terms of the winners?
Honestly, I was surprised in the best way that Robert Aramayo won his two awards. And yes, I absolutely voted for him! The room went mad both times, especially when he won best actor. What became clear was that most people in the room really wanted him to win, were not sure he would, and then of course realised that most of us had voted for him and… that’s how it works!

Also, I have long thought that short film should have a documentary and a fiction category – there are so many aspects of ‘excellence’ that are just completely different between the two. I was thrilled and surprised This Is Endometriosis won this year, but I’d still love there to be two categories, and I know I’m not alone in that.

What are you now interested in as we head to the Oscars?
I’m interested in the casting category in particular, but in other categories, I expect there’ll be much the same winners as the Baftas where the nominees are almost the same.

Do you want to say anything about what happened regarding John Davidson’s Tourette’s condition on the night, what happened in the room and the subsequent BBC broadcast?
I don’t think it occurred to anyone in the room that no one backstage had immediately checked in with and apologised to Delroy Lindo and Michael B Jordan. That’s inexcusable to me.

Speaking of inexcusable, we really need to look into how the BBC managed to simultaneously censor a Black award winner – Akinola Davies – and leave in John Davidson’s outburst. Why was a microphone placed so near him, also? And surely, you adapt the autocue note from the host to remove the ‘if’ from ‘if you were offended’ after that.

In the room, I felt that there was a lot of compassion and understanding in the moment, not least because a lot of people had seen the film, but the BBC broadcast and subsequent fallout just seemed to make the incident so much worse. A real duty-of-care failure to all parties involved.

Film executive, male, Bafta voter

What did you make of the ceremony from an entertainment point of view?
I watched on TV. It’s always difficult to balance an awards show and good TV but I think they did a good job and captured the excitement of the red carpet. I am a purist and feel like the In Memoriam should just be images and clips of those people we are remembering and less of the artists singing, although Jessie [Ware] was good!

Did you think Alan Cumming was a good host? Would you be happy for him to do it again?
He was good, better off the cuff and interacting with talent and he should do it again.

What/who surprised you in terms of the winners?
I was delighted to see Robert Aramayo win as it is an amazing performance. Boong winning children’s & family film is a surprise. The film was barely released in the UK and it’s not available to screen on any platform in the UK at the moment.

What are you now interested in as we head to the Oscars?
The competition between Sinners and One Battle After Another is real and I think we might see Sinners win more at the Oscars than we thought a few months ago.

Do you want to say anything about what happened regarding John Davidson’s Tourette’s condition on the night, what happened in the room and the subsequent BBC broadcast?
It is a sad situation for those offended and for John Davidson. Sadly, both the racial trauma and respect for disability can exist in the same place and that is difficult. Maybe more should have been done to warn the audience and presenters. However, it definitely should have been edited from the broadcast with a two-hour delay.

Communications executive 1, male, Bafta voter

What did you make of the ceremony from an entertainment point of view?
This year, I watched the ceremony from the comfort of my own home. I’d been getting various messages on groups and checking socials so I knew all the winners before the broadcast.

Did you think Alan Cumming was a good host?
I thought he was fine. It’s a hard gig and I always feel people need a couple of years of doing it before they relax into it. I still miss the Stephen Fry years. 

What/who surprised you in terms of the winners?
I was pleasantly surprised to see I Swear and Sinners share the evening with the unstoppable One Battle After Another. I was genuinely very surprised to see Sean Penn pick up supporting actor and pleasantly surprised to see Wunmi Mosaku win in supporting actress, although I had hoped Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas might get it for her superbly understated performance in Sentimental Value.

What are you now interested in as we head to the Oscars?
Jessie Buckley feels about as safe a bet as one can be for best actress. Timothée not winning at Bafta and the surprises in both supporting categories mean that all the other actor categories are more open and harder to predict. I’m looking forward to seeing who triumphs on Oscar night.

Do you want to say anything about what happened regarding John Davidson’s Tourette’s condition on the night, what happened in the room and the subsequent BBC broadcast?
I think enough has been written about it. I have a lot of sympathy for everyone involved and I’m sure it’s been a difficult week for them all.

Bafta-nominated producer 2, male, Bafta voter

What did you make of the ceremony from an entertainment point of view?
The time delay meant I inevitably found myself monitoring the early awards online, then watching the last hour of the show on the BBC. I’d love them to bring in the Grierson (documentary) awards rule that you can’t thank anyone in your acceptance speech, encouraging winners to remember it’s a primetime entertainment show and come armed with something insightful/witty/relevant to say instead of a list of names.

Did you think Alan Cumming was a good host?
Alan did a pretty good job given the tired format. There must be a better way of engaging with that level of star presence than a few lame jokes from the gangway. The high bar of awards presentation sits with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler at the Globes, managing to roast the industry and the stars present and still stay acceptable to a mainstream audience: “Gravity, the story of how George Clooney would rather float away into space and die than spend one more minute with a woman his own age.”

What are you now interested in as we head to the Oscars?
Just hoping enough Academy voters have seen Hamnet so Jessie Buckley gets her much-deserved Oscar.

Do you want to say anything about what happened regarding John Davidson’s Tourette’s condition on the night, what happened in the room and the subsequent BBC broadcast?
Anyone who’s been involved in live, high-pressure editing could reasonably be frustrated to hear industry professionals saying things like someone should have caught this “when reviewing the final edit”. You’re editing while the show is still going on, you don’t know how long it will last, yet you have to seamlessly deliver a two-hour programme that will start airing while you’re still cutting.

Let’s hear a little more solidarity and understanding of the skills on display here. Does anyone really believe the BBC made a conscious editorial decision to leave in the N-word? And all this controversy surrounding a film with a powerful message about not apologising for tics you cannot control.

Communications executive 2, male, Bafta voter

What did you make of the ceremony from an entertainment point of view?
This might ruin my credentials as someone qualified to talk about awards, but I find awards ceremonies quite difficult to watch. I absolutely believe in the value of awards – they can be incredibly helpful in promoting independent and auteur films that might otherwise struggle to find an audience in an increasingly challenging landscape. But the ceremonies themselves often feel far removed from the films.

I tend to follow the results online as they happen rather than sit through the broadcast. Framing it as “entertainment” probably sums it up for me as it inevitably turns years of work by thousands of people into a show.

What/who surprised you in terms of the winners?
I wasn’t hugely surprised. Some of the results skewed British in a way that they won’t at the Oscars. The biggest surprise for me was Sean Penn winning over Stellan Skarsgård. I personally struggled with that performance – it felt almost pantomime at times. I’m happy with the love for Sinners which I preferred to One Battle After Another, but wanted Sentimental Value to win more.

What are you now interested in as we head to the Oscars?
As long as ‘Golden’ wins best song, anything else is a bonus. Seriously though, I expect the results to follow the pattern we’ve seen all season – One Battle dominating, with continued love for Sinners, Sentimental Value and Jessie Buckley.

I’d love the odd surprise, eg, Michael B Jordan for best actor or Renate Reinsve/Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas for best actress/supporting actress, but I think the script has already been written.

Do you want to say anything about what happened regarding John Davidson’s Tourette’s condition on the night, what happened in the room and the subsequent BBC broadcast?
I think most people would agree that the situation should have been handled more swiftly and with greater sensitivity, particularly when it came to the broadcast. Live events are unpredictable, but that only increases the responsibility on broadcasters to think carefully about duty of care, both to the individual involved and to audiences watching at home.

If, once the dust settles, it prompts more awareness around Tourette’s and encourages broadcasters to reflect on how they handle similar situations in future, that would at least be a constructive outcome.

Producer 3, male, Bafta voter 

What did you make of the ceremony from an entertainment point of view?
I watched it on iPlayer, largely because of the controversies. It was entertainment, yes, but mostly schadenfreude.

Did you think Alan Cumming was a good host? 
Alan Cumming had a difficult brief. I like him, but the ceremony still felt stylistically stuck. Why not bring in someone more embedded in contemporary film culture, or rethink the format altogether? More significantly, the scripted apologies he was required to deliver landed badly. That miscalculation risks pulling him into a wider controversy he didn’t create. If Bafta wants to reset, it needs more than cosmetic tweaks – including genuinely diverse presenters. I’m not convinced that will happen.

What/who surprised you in terms of the winners?
The only real surprises were the I Swear wins. Otherwise, it was highly predictable and in places baffling. Sean Penn over Stellan Skarsgård? Hard to justify. Choosing One Battle After Another felt unintentionally symbolic given the chaos of the evening. It’s an entertaining and well-crafted film, but not especially daring. The Secret Agent or Sinners would have been more ambitious, and arguably more deserving, choices.

What are you now interested in as we head to the Oscars?
Sinners staging a late resurgence is notable. We could see Timothee Chalamet being pipped at the post again, this time by Michael B. Jordan, which would reinforce a narrative around near-misses. That said, the composure he showed in response to the John Davidson comments may ultimately strengthen his standing within the voting body.

Do you want to say anything about what happened regarding John Davidson’s Tourette’s condition on the night, what happened in the room and the subsequent BBC broadcast?
The BBC’s handling of the broadcast was a serious editorial failure. Airing the N-word without adequate safeguards or framing was inexcusable.

As for Bafta, I understand the dilemma they perceived – balancing public support for someone with Tourette’s against the gravity of a racial slur. But institutions do not get to equivocate when racism is involved. They failed to express clear moral leadership at the critical moment.

The apology felt managed rather than principled, shaped by crisis containment rather than conviction. This incident also exposes a broader structural issue: a tension between leadership’s diversity rhetoric and the instincts of the wider membership. When those two aren’t aligned, fractures become public.

• Breaking down the Baftas: controversies, category wins and the best party canapés – The Screen Podcast