Prepare to Celebrate UK Talent at the 2026 BAFTAs

Look at, for example, I Swear, which has been a huge success at the UK box office and with the critics this year. It’s based on the true story of John Davidson, played by Robert Aramayo (Behind Her Eyes, Palestine 36). Davidson developed Tourette’s as a boy and endured years of misunderstanding and prejudice as a result of his condition, before turning campaigner and helping to change the public perception of Tourettes. Aramayo is nominated as Best Actor In A Leading Role, with a supporting actor nod for Peter Mullan (Sunset Song, Tyrannosaur). Writer-director Kirk Jones (Nanny McPhee) is up for Best Adapted Screenplay, while casting director Lucy Evans (Sex Education, Paddington 2) is in for Best Casting. The film is also nominated for Outstanding British Film, a fantastic result for the warm-hearted film. 

The Ballad of Wallis Island, with three nominations including Outstanding British Film. The micro-budgeted British comedy stars Tom Basden (Ghosts) as Herb, a folk singer unexpected reunited with his former partner – professionally and personally – Nell (Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman, Suffragette) when they’re invited to play on a remote island by Charles (Tim Key, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa). Basden and Key wrote the hilarious and heart-breaking film together, and are nominated in the Best Adapted Screenplay category (it’s based on their own short film), while Mulligan is recognised in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category. 

Also nominated for three BAFTAs is Pillion, the debut feature film of acclaimed short film director Harry Lighton. Harry Melling (Harry Potter films, Shoshana) stars as a shy young man who throws himself into a BDSM relationship with an older biker (Alexander Skarsgård, Passing, Lee). Lighton adapted the funny, deeply felt screenplay from the novel Box Hill, and is now nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer, and Outstanding British Film.  

Of course, that’s only the tip of the iceberg for the nominees. Hamnet has dominated many headlines here during awards season, and deservedly so. Chloe Zhao and author Maggie O’Farrell’s imagining of Shakespeare’s family life has picked up an impressive 11 nominations, including Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Zhao and O’Farrell. There were three cast nominations too, for Jessie Buckley (Men, Wicked Little Letters) as Actress in a Leading Role, Paul Mescal (Normal People, The History of Sound) as Actor in a Supporting Role, and Emily Watson (Belle, Chernobyl) as Actress in a Supporting Role. She’ll be competing, incidentally, against British actress Wunmi Mosaku (His House) for Sinners. 

Sentimental Value has eight nominations, including Best Film and Best Supporting Actor for Stellan Skarsgård (Our Kind of Traitor) and Best Actress for Renate Reinsve (Armand). Another heavily nominated film is Bugonia, nominated for five BAFTAs including Best Director for Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite) and Best Actress for Emma Stone (Poor Things). Jesse Plemons (Black Mirror) is up for Supporting Actor, Will Tracy (The Regime, The Menu) for Best Adapted Screenplay and Jerskin Fenrix (Kinds of Kindness) for Best Score. 

Naturally the Outstanding British Film category showcases some of the best local productions. That includes the likes of 28 Years Later, a fresh instalment in the “infected” (or zombie) series from Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire) and Alex Garland (Civil War, Ex Machina). Ralph Fiennes (The King’s Man, The English Patient) stars with Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Outlaw King, Anna Karenina) and Jodie Comer (Killing Eve, The End We Start From). It’s been so successful that the sequel – 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple – is already in cinemas, but seeing it an unabashed horror nominated alongside the traditional dramas is a great result. 

It will be competing in a widely varied category, in fact. There’s the exciting new film from You Were Never Really Here director Lynne Ramsay, Die My Love, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson (The Childhood of a Leader, The King). Claire Foy (Breathe, The Crown) stars in H is for Hawk, based on the bestselling memoir about grief and falconry. Mr Burton tells the story of legendary actor Richard Burton and the teacher who inspired him, starring Toby Jones (Detectorists), while Steve focuses on another teacher, played by Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer, Peaky Blinders), struggling to manage a school for students with problems. Finally in that category is the belated but delightful sequel, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, with Renee Zellweger returning as the hapless heroine, this time alongside Leo Woodall (One Day), Hugh Grant (Wonka) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Children of Men).

Finally, there are the categories that show us where film is going in the years to come. The Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer category has crowned many future filmmaking stars, including Andrea Arnold (Bird, American Honey), Joe Wright (Atonement) and Steve McQueen (Shame). Aside from Pillion, which we’ve already discussed, this year’s nominees are Jack King, Hollie Bryan, and Lucy Meer for The Ceremony, about migrant workers ordered to dispose of a body by their boss; Cal McMau, Hunter Andrews, and Eoin Doran for prison drama Wasteman; Myrid Carten for her family documentary A Want In Her and finally Akinola Davies Jr. and Wale Davies for the buzzed-about family drama set during the 1993 Nigerian elections, My Father’s Shadow. 

Then the EE Rising Star Award acknowledges the performers we’re going to be seeing climbing the A-list in the years to come. Previous winners include James McAvoy (Starter For 10), Tom Hardy (Dunkirk) and Lashana Lynch (No Time To Die). This year, the nominees include Aramayo, Archie Madekwe (Saltburn) and Posy Sterling (Lollipop, The Outrun): history suggests that they’ll be all over a cinema near you for years to come.