Swearing, Marty Supreme … and Prince William: Bafta’s 12 biggest snubs and surprises

The mother of all upsets

Robert Aramayo wins the leading actor Bafta.

Going into Bafta night, everybody’s secret hopes for a little British movies that could were centred on folkie comedy The Ballad of Wallis Island. In the event though, Ballad wound up with nothing and I Swear, about Tourettes activist John Davidson stormed the show, capped by a jawdropping win for Robert Aramayo in the best actor category. As the man himself said, it was not to be believed that he’d be heading to the podium ahead of the likes of DiCaprio, Chalamet and Ethan Hawke. You probably have to go back to the mid-1980s and Haing S Ngor’s win for The Killing Fields for someone so unheralded to take the prize.

The unexpected battle: Tourette’s v racism

Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo being called n*gger wasn’t on my 2026 BBC bingo card icl pic.twitter.com/NKARRsizQ2 — Olujimi (@Lord_Oke) February 22, 2026

I Swear’s presence in the nominations list meant that Davidson, on whose real life story of dealing with the hostility of people around him the film is based, was naturally invited to the ceremony. Until Cumming stepped in to explain the context, audiences online and watching the telecast were bemused by what they could hear. Bemusement, however, turned into something else when Davidson was heard to shout the N-word while Delroy Lindo and Michael B Jordan were presenting t