What time are the 2026 Baftas, who is hosting and how to watch on TV?

One of the starriest nights in the British film calendar has arrived – that’s right, it is time for the 2026 EE Bafta film awards.

Celebrating the very best in both British and global filmmaking, famous faces from in front of and behind the camera will be donning their finest threads to hit the red carpet.

The 79th annual ceremony will take place in the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where the likes of Timothee Chalamet, Emma Stone, and Jessie Buckley will be hoping to walk away with the iconic mask statue.

But what time will the ceremony be on TV, who is on hosting duties, and which films have been nominated?

Here is everything you need to know for tonight’s star-studded event…

What time are the Bafta, are they live and how to watch on TV?

You can watch all the glitz and glamour on BBC One tonight – February 22 – from 7pm until 9pm.

As is tradition for the Baftas, the ceremony will take place in the late afternoon before the broadcast airs, so if you want to avoid spoilers, we’d steer clear from social media until 7.

To catch all the red carpet action, though, you can tune into the arrivals on Bafta’s YouTube channel, with the stream hosted by Clara Amfo and Ali Plumb, starting from 2:30pm.

Who is hosting the Baftas?

Taking the baton from last year’s Bafta hosts Richard E. Grant and Alison Hammond is Alan Cumming.

This marks the Scottish actor’s first time fronting the film ceremony, as David Tennant took on hosting duties in 2024 and 2025.

The 61-year-old Traitors presenter has, however, hosted the TV Baftas before.

Speaking ahead of the gig and offering a preview of what to expect from him, he told the New York Times: ‘You’ve obviously got to be funny, you want to be a little biting, you want to not ignore what is happening in the world.’

‘So many of the films this year, when you watch, you are in a constant state of anxiety,’ he further noted in reference to the likes of Hamnet, One Battle After Another, and Sentimental Value.

Still, the director is keen to celebrate creativity: ‘That’s all it should be.’

What films have been nominated at the Baftas?

This year, action thriller One Battle After Another leads the charge with an epic 14 nominations.

It’s closely followed by Sinners, as the Michael B. Jordan horror has 13 nods.

Marty Supreme (which is expected to win lead star Chalamet his first leading actor Oscar) and Golden Globe-winning historical drama Hamnet sit just behind with 11 nominations each.

Other big flicks that have been recognised at the 2026 Baftas include Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein adaptation for cinematography, Wicked: For Good for hair, makeup, and costume, Zootropolis 2 in the animation category, and 28 Years Later as an outstanding British film.

As for the actors hoping to take home their own personal gongs, Rose Byrne, Kate Hudson, Chase Infiniti, and Renate Reinsve are featured in the leading actress run, but Hamnet’s Buckley is the hot favourite.

Meanwhile, leading actor includes Ethan Hawke, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Robert Aramayo, but Chalamet is looking likely to take it.

Yorgos Lanthimos, Chloé Zhao, Josh Safdie, Paul Thomas Anderson, Joachim Trier, and Ryan Coogler will battle for best director.

There will also be two special awards handed out, with Dame Donna Langley (the British chairman of NBCUniversal) receiving this year’s Bafta Fellowship, the organisation’s highest honour.

Clare Binns, PictureHouse Cinema’s creative director, will also receive the outstanding British contribution to cinema award ‘to recognise her role in championing diverse and fiercely independent work on big screens around the UK’.

Who is presenting and performing at this year’s Baftas?

Award presenters this year include Aimee Lou Wood, Bryan Cranston, Cillian Murphy, Gillian Anderson, Ethan Hawke, Glenn Close, Kerry Washington, Stellan Skarsgård, Stormzy, and Warwick Davis. Oh, and Paddington Bear.

Performing at the ceremony will be Jae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami, who voice the group Huntr/X in KPop Demon Hunters.

They’ll sing the movie’s hit tune Golden for the first time outside of the US before also hitting the Brit Awards stage next week.

Jessie Ware will perform a Barbara Streisand cover in the In Memoriam segment as we honour those we’ve lost over the last year.

Watch the 2026 EE Baftas on BBC One and iPlayer from 7pm on Sunday, February 22.