“When they asked me back, I thought, ‘Really? Are you sure?’” David Tennant jokes about returning to host the BAFTA Film Awards.
He is known around the world as Doctor Who, but the Scottish star is beloved in the U.K. in other roles such as in Broadchurch, Harry Potter and, most recently, Disney+’s Jilly Cooper adaptation Rivals.
Tennant took the same BAFTA gig in 2024 and found the entire experience relatively liberating, he reveals to The Hollywood Reporter. “You do learn in the midst of it that everyone who’s there has an agenda, absolutely understandably,” he says. “The people up for awards have an agenda, the people who are presenting awards have an agenda… [As host], you’ve just got to keep it smooth. You quite quickly realize this must not be about me.”
“That was quite liberating, once I realized, ‘You know what? It doesn’t matter what I do. It’s not really about me. I just have to queue up the next person,’” he continues. “You’re a facilitator and it takes the pressure off.”
The awards race temperature has been increasingly rising since the start of the year with Demi Moore, Adrien Brody, Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldaña faring favorably in the performance categories at the Golden Globes. All are nominated for a BAFTA this year, with Edward Berger’s Vatican drama Conclave the front-runner with 12 nominations in total. Following closely is Emilia Pérez‘s 11 nods and The Brutalist‘s nine, revealed on Jan. 15.
“I think it’s quite an open field currently,” Tennant says about the nominees. “It’s quite hard to know who the runners and riders are.”
He adds, referencing the wealth of British talent among the nominees this year (Ralph Fiennes, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Cynthia Erivo, Hugh Grant, Rich Peppiatt, Peter Straughan, Hugh Grant and Sandhya Suri, to name a few): “It certainly feels like Britain, as a production hub, is absolutely thrumming. There’s a lot of studio space here now. It feels like there’s a new one opening every couple of weeks and the world is coming here to make its films.”
“There’s a bit of a dip post-strikes but it’s starting to heat up again now and the crews we have here, the facilities we have here, the legacy of filmmaking [in the U.K.], it’s very strong. As these things get a bit more global, it’s harder to say ‘That’s a British film,’ or ‘That’s an American film,’ because it feels like one big industry. [But] this country feels like it’s punching above its weight.”
Tennant uses this reasoning to ponder the BAFTA Film Awards‘ comparative prestige and how it signifies who will emerge triumphant at the Oscars in March. “It’s become number two to the Oscars, I think. We’re definitely still outright for the Oscars, but I think it’s right up there. Certainly, last year felt like a dry run for what happened at the Oscars,” he says. Does he agree that actors are now taking a BAFTA win more seriously? “Yeah. It feels significant.”
On being asked to return, he added: “It’s quite curious because it’s not something I’d ever imagined I would be asked to do or particularly aspired to do. It was one of those things that came out of the blue. And you think, ‘I probably can’t say no to this, because it’s such a unique thing to be a part of.’”
Check out the full list of nominations for the 2025 EE BAFTA Film Awards here. The winners will be unveiled by host Tennant Sunday, Feb. 16 at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
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