Discussing Timothée Chalamet’s range of roles over the past two years, from Willy Wonka in Wonka to Paul Atreides in Dune: Part Two, to Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, Tennant jokes that “The Tims, they are a’changing.” A gag punning on Vladimir Putin and the dating app Tinder (“Putin-der”) was met with a robust laugh on the telecast; according to colleagues who were in attendance, the line actually prompted widespread groans.
This Sunday night, Britain’s foremost film ceremony faced the same uphill battle that every awards show faces this year: distracting controversies, audience fatigue, and, with some noteworthy exceptions, a rather middling lineup of films.
The Baftas’ solution, it seems, is to go with the tried and true, tapping David Tennant for the second year running to host its star-studded ceremony.
Unsurprisingly, there was no mention of the scandal in Tennant’s patter; the film did win two Baftas, for best international film and Best Supporting Actress, out of a total 11 nominations.
Cox’s Logan Roy-tinged pep talk segues into a kilt-clad rendition of The Proclaimers’ “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”, which Tennant belts out while walking into the Royal Festival Hall auditorium, enlisting many of the seated stars in attendance as backing singers – James McAvoy, Harriet Walter, Selena Gomez among them.
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