Baftas 2020 viewers left wincing at awkward jokes from Emilia Clarke and Gillian Anderson
Viewers were left squirming at numerous misfired quips
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Your support makes all the difference.The Baftas would not be the same without an awkward joke or two and the 2020 ceremony did not disappoint.
Host Graham Norton kicked things off well enough, although he aimed a total of three jokes at The Irishman's three-and-a-half hour running time.
If the first joke went down well, the second and the third went down like lead balloons.
Gillian Anderson and Asa Butterfield – who play mother and son in Netflix series Sex Education – also brought the awkward levels with a well-meaning joke that went on for far too long.
Butterfield joked that he was told to calm his nerves by imagining everyone in the crowd naked. After briefly surveying the audience in front of him, he shielded his eyes in shock – apparently seeing his mum in the audience.
Anderson replies: "It's alright, you'll get used to it – you'll get used to shock. I'm not sure you'll get used to the codpiece that Adam Driver's wearing."
In fairness, the audience laughed, but the visual of Butterfield cringing next to her did not help the situation.
Then there was Emilia Clarke, who fell victim to an autocue scriptwriter while presenting the award for Visual Effects alongside Vanessa Kirby.
After Kirby hailed SFX and post-production teams working in cinema, Clarke said: "We didn't bother with any of that on Game of Thrones, though. Obviously getting the real dragons worked out cheaper."
She smiled at the camera, almost seeming to wince herself at how unfunny and confusing the quip was. It did not help that Kirby left her high and dry by failing to realise she was next to speak, leaving perhaps the most awkward silence of the evening. More people laughed at that.
Otherwise, the ceremony went off without a hitch. Showing them how it was done was Hugh Grant's improvised Bridget Jones reference he delivered after presenting an award directly following Renée Zellweger's Best Actress win for Judy. Brad Pitt's speech, given by Margot Robbie, was also a hit.
The biggest talking point of the night arrived with Joaquin Phoenix's powerful acceptance speech, which decried "systemic racism" that saw a lack of diversity in this year's awards season.
Sam Mendes' First World War drama 1917 was the evening's big winner taking home seven trophies in total. Find a full list of the Bafta 2020 winners here.
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