David Tennant kicks off Bafta ceremony with sketch performance

David Tennant kicked off the Bafta ceremony with a sketch performance of The Proclaimers’ hit I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles).

The Scottish actor and Bafta host’s sketch began in his dressing room alongside his wife Georgia Tennant.

He called on the “Bafta gods” to help him, getting messages from fellow Scottish actor Brian Cox, who started singing a remade version of the Scottish rock duo’s hit.

Tennant wore a kilt as he walked into the event hall, during which he said “I’m going to work hard for you, Selena” Gomez, while touching the US actress on the shoulder.

The Rivals star, 53, is hosting the ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall at London’s Southbank Centre for the second year running.

Tennant joked about he and fellow actors “freshening up” while they age, after referencing that Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa took on his role in the BBC series.

He also made reference to the films being nominated and said he was belting out Wicked song Defying Gravity, which he said “didn’t go down well” with the audiences while he was watching The Brutalist.

Tennant also said “who doesn’t like a chance to have a wee halfway through”, while talking about the intermission in the three-and-a half-hour-plus immigrant story The Brutalist.

He joked about sitting down to watch the “gritty Narcos thriller” Emilia Perez only to discover it was a musical.

Other performances will include Take That, who will perform their chart-topping hit Greatest Day, which features in the film Anora, and Wicked star Jeff Goldblum is set to play the piano during the In Memoriam segment.