We never imagined a film about a bumbling king’s speech impediment would get us all excited, but tonight really did belong to The King’s Speech. The film managed to tally up seven awards in total and we couldn’t be more thrilled. Aaaah, makes us proud to be British! But now for the night’s best bits in full:
After James McAvoy (winner of Best Foundation of the night) fluffed his lines, Helena Bonham Carter accepted the award for Best Supporting Actress. Despite winners being politely advised to keep 'their acceptance speeches succinct' Helena revelled in her moment saying:
‘I’m so used to losing, it’s nice to win’ before quickly adding ‘Children! It’s not all about winning’ and more importantly, ‘my skirt's just got hitched up at the back – not a good time’. She also said: ‘King Colin, you’re deserving everything you’re getting’.
Best use of Ad Lib has to go to Rosamund Pike and Dominic Cooper who burbled their way through a cringey bit of pre nominee banter after the auto cue failed them, with Rosamund attempting to reveal the winner before the nominations.
A surprisingly clumsy Jessica Alba also rocked up to present an award in a similarly disastrous fashion, managing to giggle her way through reading the (now functioning) autocue before almost dropping the BAFTA. Smooth.
Gerard Butler, a man described as ‘so sexy he can reverse the menopause’ by Jonathan Ross, presented the Best Actress award which went to Natalie Portman for Black Swan. Couldn’t help noticing Gerard has gone a little grey around the edges. Not that we are complaining, it is in a strictly George Lamb esque fashion.
Director Darren Aronofsky accepted the award on Natalie Portman’s behalf. Natalie was unable to attend the awards as she is so very, very pregnant she cannot fly. Darren complimented Natalie on her role saying how the actress trained for eight hours a day for the role and appeared in every shot.
Biggest round of applause went to Best Actor winner, Colin Firth who accepted his award with a simple: "I like coming here, thank you Bafta." He said thanks to his family for "remaining so steady whether they are dealing with a dancing queen or a sometime king". What about a hunk in a sopping white shirt? That's how we like to think of you.
Phew, what a night! Now let’s bring on the Oscars!