More awards: Bafta 2010

Another big movie night in London - the biggest of the year - as the British Academy Film Awards were held at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. A seriously glittering array of stars paraded down the red carpet (that's Carey Mulligan above). But I wasn't there - I was in a theatre about 50 metres away watching Megan Mullally on stage instead - then I watched the BBC telecast of the Baftas later this evening.

The show was the usual collection of embarrassing jokes and deserving winners. As host, Jonathan Ross struggled to deliver even a single funny comment, which makes us wonder if he'll be back next year (well, he's decided not to renew his overall BBC contract). And whoever wrote the script for the autocue should be sacked as well - it was painful to watch the stars struggle to get through the dire introductions. The nadir being poor Mickey Rourke squinting to read an appalling lead-in to the best actress award. Although he did add a tastless barebacking comment, bless him.

Besides six awards for The Hurt Locker, the prizes were spread around, with nice British love in the lead acting categories: Colin Firth gave the night's best thank you speech - clever, smart and grateful - while Carey Mulligan was gorgeous, charming and utterly overwhelmed by her award. The funniest speech was given by Jacques Audiard, receiving the foreign-film award for A Prophet, who mimed in French and waved Tahar Rahim in front of the audience to rapturous applause, then left the stage. The wackiest speech came from Andrea Arnold, collecting British Film with a free-association speech involving a dream about putting up a tent, "and God save the Queen!"

That comment was apparently aimed at Prince William, who is apparently inheriting the presidency of Bafta with the retirement of the ageing Lord Attenborough. He was on hand to introduce the gorgeous Uma Thurman, who presented the Bafta Fellowship to an utterly magical Vanessa Redgrave. No one minded that her thank you rambled on through various topics - she is acting royalty after all. But I couldn't help but be impressed by the fact that Prince William towered above the 6-foot-tall Uma and the 5-foot-11 Vanessa. Who knew?

Other highlights included those who choked back tears to accept their awards, such as Redgrave, Duncan Jones for debut filmmaker, Kristen Stewart for rising star and even Kathryn Bigelow for director. Most glamorous and gorgeous was Kate Winslet, most effortlessly combining sexy and goofy was Robert Pattinson, and most enjoying himself was Terry Gilliam.