Baftas audience falls by 500,000 viewers as 3 million watch ceremony on BBC One

The star-studded event failed to pull in viewers 
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Rachel McGrath3 February 2020
The Weekender

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The TV audience for the film Baftas has dropped despite a starry turnout.

Sunday night’s awards attracted 3 million viewers on BBC One, falling by half a million from last year.

The awards were attended by A-list stars such as Renee Zellweger, John Boyega, Florence Pugh, Robert De Niro, Scarlett Johansson, Naomie Harris and Margot Robbie.

But the ceremony, hosted by Graham Norton, had an average audience of three million and a peak of 3.5 million.

Hosting duties: Graham Norton did a fine job of keeping things on track
AFP via Getty Images

In 2019, the British Academy Film Awards drew an average of 3.5 million viewers and a peak of 4.1 million.

Hosted then by Joanna Lumley, it had an audience share of 20.7 percent compared to 18.6 percent for this year’s event, which faced criticism for lack of diversity among its nominees.

Sir Sam Mendes’ war epic 1917 swept the board at the ceremony, winning 10 accolades including the highly-coveted Best Film, Best British Film and Best Director.

Winner: Sir Sam Mendes was named Best Director
Reuters

In the acting categories, Joaquin Phoenix and Renee Zellweger were named Best Actor and Actress, with the former calling out the Bafta nominations’ lack of diversity in his speech.

He said: “I feel very honoured and privileged to be here tonight – Bafta has always been very supportive of my career and I’m deeply appreciative.

“But I have to say that I also feel conflicted because so many of my fellow actors that are deserving don’t have that same privilege.”

“I think that we send a very clear message to people of colour that you’re not welcome here," he continued.

“I think that’s the message that we’re sending to people that have contributed so much to our medium and our industry and in ways that we benefit from.”

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were in attendance at the event and the Duke gave a speech, which also addressed the lack of diversity, to present a Bafta fellowship to Kathleen Kennedy.

The royal couple also laughed off a joke about Prince Harry.

Additional reporting by Press Association.

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