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The BAFTA Awards took place on Sunday night, and here you will find everything you need to know about the events of the night! The Leading Actress award was won by Kate Winslet for her fantastic performance in The Reader and Slumdog Millionaire cleaned up at the awards with seven gongs including Best Film.

The night of British triumphs saw Danny Boyle win the Director prize for Slumdog, the rags-to-riches tale set in the slums of Mumbai.

The Orange British Academy Film Awards, one of the most glamorous events in the film calendar, saw A-listers including Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Sharon Stone, Penelope Cruz, Daniel Craig, Ron Howard and Michael Sheen brave the downpour to dazzle on the red carpet.

Kate Winslet appeared breathless when speaking in her acceptance speech, saying: “To be given this award at home, this really means a great deal to me. Thank you Bafta, thank you. I want to thank everybody involved in the making of this film. They all know who they are and they all deserve a big fat piece of this.”

Star of Doctor Who and Adulthood Noel Clarke was the people’s choice, taking home the Orange Rising Star Award, voted for by the public. Monty Python star Terry Gilliam was given the Bafta fellowship – the Academy’s highest honour.

Below is a list of other BAFTA awards presented on the special and eventful night - 

Best Film

Slumdog Millionaire

Best British Film
Man On Wire

Best Leading Actor
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler

Best Leading Actress
Kate Winslet – The Reader

Best Supporting Actor
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight

Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Director
Danny Boyle – Slumdog Milllionaire

Best Costume design
The Duchess

Best Special Visual Effects
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Make-up and Hair
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Britain’s Bafta’s took place in London last night at London’s Royal Opera House and they proved that the Baftas are currently by far the more interesting awards on the calendar. In a display of good taste and independent judgement, Bafta’s 6,000 voters – industry professionals every one – delivered some intriguing, heartening results.

The main colour to be seen in was black, worn by Alesha Dixon, Kylie and Emma Watson, all sporting black gowns. When speaking to the press, Emma Watson said, “The Baftas are very important. For us here, we don’t often have the support we need to get small British films off the ground so anything that promotes us, I think it’s wonderful.”

Brad Pitt and Daniel Craig were both two well known faces who looked absolutely gorgeous as they made their way into the Royal Opera House.

Artist Steve McQueen was making his big-screen debut, winning the Carl Foreman special achievement award for his uncompromising film Hunger, about IRA hunger strikers in the Maze prison.

And you have to love the fact that the British public voted Noel Clarke as this year’s Orange rising star. He may be best known as Doctor Who’s Mickey Smith, but he is also an accomplished screenwriter and director (Adulthood, Kidulthood) who deserves this public boost.

As for the ‘major’ awards, it was a relief that Kate Winslet has now put her acceptance speech problems behind her and remains the lead actress to beat at any awards ceremony. The Bafta voters opted for the right one performance by Kate, her work in The Reader has clearly burned itself on our collective memories in a manner Revolutionary Road has not. 

The night’s big winner, Slumdog Millionaire, which won seven Baftas, may seem an obvious choice now, but until its British premiere back in October at the London Film Festival, it looked an unlikely awards front-runner.

One final pleasing aspect to the BAFTAs: here is a ceremony that can be edited down to two hours of TV time, and not a minute more.