"I'd like to thank the Academy..."
... for the awesome seats we had at the BAFTAs last night!
As a competition winner (I won the tickets through the BAFTA website) the two tickets I was sent were for Row A - right at the front of the upstairs balcony.
But first we had to get to the seats - up some stairs and along an extremely brightly patterned carpet...
(Click pictures for full size versions)
We had to arrive between 4.30 and 5.30 - so we rolled up around 4.45 and almost straight away ran into the some of the lovely ladies who make up the @BakerStBabes. They were incredibly friendly and it was so nice to put faces to usernames! We took a few pictures on the lower part of the carpet then traipsed up the stairs to the main section where the general public were lying in wait for people much more famous than us!
I have to tip my hat to to the folks who had queued for the official wristbands to wait in line on the red carpet and then waited through the heat of the day until everyone showed up - they deserved every autograph and photograph they got - it was absolutely baking out there!
We loitered for a bit but there was nobody there we recognised (though the Babes were themselves recognised!) so we headed inside and were ushered upstairs to a bar on the balcony level.
The balcony itelf was a stunning vista of backsides in every hue of the rainbow as people jostled for a spot to see over and back down on to the carpet we'd just strolled along - where the talent were just starting to show up.
There were various nudges of "Is that..?" "Isn't that...?" until finally we were rewarded with Amanda Abbington, Mark Gatiss, Ian Hallard, Beryl and Sue Vertue, Steven Moffat, Andrew Scott and Lara Pulver all showing up en masse. They all looked gorgeous, (Amanda was rocking a bright pink dress!) but special mention has to go to Lara Pulver who was truly stunning, even from our awkward vantage point!
Andrew Scott was clearly having a ball and the people on the line were loving him.
Some other famous faces came past; Ricky Gervais, Sir Terry Practhett, Rupert Penry Jones; we played spot the difference with Harry Hill and Ade Edmondson - easier when you remember Ade is the one Jennifer Saunders is
married to!
Then there was a definite murmur through the crowd both on the balcony and down below - sure enough, Mr Cumberbatch had arrived! He was at the far end - pre-carpet and moving at glacial pace because everyone wanted him.
Also spotted around the same time: Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton (Mummy and Daddybatch), the Fellowship winner Rolf Harris and his wife and Robert Lindsay (who's definitely another one in the "older men I totally would" category!)
Quick check - BC is now at the disabled seating area - he spent a long time there, for which we all only loved him even more and then he finally made it to the start of the press photo/interview area.
And then I looked past where BC was being interviewed and back at the disabled seating area... (remember to click thru for full-size)
And I'm ashamed to admit, I actually honest-to-God squeaked - just a tiny bit.
I genuinely hadn't expected him to be there, had barely even hoped - but lo-and-behold there was Mr Rupert Graves making his way up the red carpet.
It has to be said - he really is even more handsome than the camera gives him credit for - and it gives him plenty!
Well that sorts where my camera is pointing for the next 10 minutes at least - (Benedict who?)
(ETA: sorry guys - will finish adding pics later on Tuesday!)
I got the impression he was initially a little surprised by how many people on the line wanted to talk to him but he really seemed to be enjoying it! The only frustrating thing of course was that I was above and behind him so most of my pictures were of the back of his head!
Anyway, by the time Rupert went inside I had to do the same because I was frying out on the balcony - and it was nearly time to go sit down anyway.
We got handed our programmes on the way in and on every seat was a botle of water and a little packet of BAFTA mask shaped chocolates!
So we got comfy and then... disaster.
I put my camera on my lap to rearrange my bag, water bottle, programme and choccies - and my camera slid right off my lovely smooth dress and onto the floor with an ominous clunk - it never does that when I'm wearing jeans...
Picked it up again, fearing the worst... Turned out the camera was largely fine - except the automatic mechanism that opens the lens cover was knackered so when I held the camera up to take a shot the lens cover dropped across the middle of the lens.
*epic facepalm*
I could still take pictures if I held the camera lens out of the way but then my hand was blocking the flash. So I apologise for the quality of the inside pictures - they were taken on a very old Blackberry and a knackered camera with no flash. :(
Back to nicer things - the announcer asked everyone to take their seats -and half of the celebs started filing in through the door directly under us!
Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton stood chatting to Mark and Ian - and I spotted Benedict's shoes, if not the rest of him!
I pointed out people I recognised as they passed below us. Hubby nodded and "mm-hmmed" occasionally adding a "Wasn't he/she in...?". Only two people got more of a reaction out of him: "Ooh - Sue Perkins!" (he's a big fan of the Great British Bake Off and Supersizers) - and then, almost in passing, "He's very handsome."
"Who?" I ask - as I've just mentioned about thirty people in the past minute.
"That Ian Hallard chap - Mark Gatiss' partner."
Fair warning, Mark! ;)
It was very easy to keep track of Team Sherlock thanks to Amanda Abbington's dress! She sat and faced back towards the balcony and started waving to some of the BSB's. Mark and Ian were there chatting to her as the others slowly filed in.
Lara came in... then Andrew... then finally Rupert. He started down the stairs towards the front, then changed his mind and came back up to the entrance to hug the stuffing out of Timothy Spall (I mean a proper longer-than-3-second bear hug!) then he headed back down and turned in 6 rows behind Team Sherlock! Turned out, for whatever reason, Rupert was sitting beside Amelia Bullmore and the rest of Team Scott & Bailey. So no hard feelings I guess despite his non-appearance in Series 2 (and grisly end!) ;)
This put him about 40 feet directly in front of me - it was highly distracting! (And also completely wonderful!)
(I don't know who was sitting on his right but whenever I glanced that way he was either just sitting clapping or chatting to Amelia on his left.)
Anyway - Dara O'Briain was hilarious in his remarks before the show started properly, encouraging the balcony to make lots of noise because he couldn't rely on the "pricks" in the stalls - and then we were off!
I'll skip the ceremony - you've seen most of it if you watched on TV and the one thing we missed being in the hall was the reaction shots from people in the crowd (Benedict mouthing "sorry" for example). Was lovely to hear Rupert's voice in the brief clip of the 9/11 documentary (but I was very glad Terry Pratchett won that that one!)
The show dragged a little in the middle but all in all it was a fantastic evening - apart from a few results!
Afterwards we were just as strictly segregated as before. The names were having dinner - since we hadn't eaten for about 9 hours we thought we'd say bye-bye to the Babes and do likewise! We walked outside and down the side of the building - to find a bit of a scrum!
Benedict had nipped out for a pre-dinner ciggie and the waiting fans had pounced! I tried to get a decent shot with my crappy phone camera - not very successfully - but on the plus side that was when we bumped into the lovely @cumberbatchweb!
We chatted briefly then headed back to the hotel for room service and then collapsed into bed, for some reason suddenly very tired!
Am I sorry I didn't get to say "Hello" to Rupert? A little bit - but I get hopelesly tongue tied around people I have crushes on so maybe it was for the best! It was just wonderful actually seeing him in person.
Now if only we can get him back on the stage...
As a competition winner (I won the tickets through the BAFTA website) the two tickets I was sent were for Row A - right at the front of the upstairs balcony.
But first we had to get to the seats - up some stairs and along an extremely brightly patterned carpet...
(Click pictures for full size versions)
We had to arrive between 4.30 and 5.30 - so we rolled up around 4.45 and almost straight away ran into the some of the lovely ladies who make up the @BakerStBabes. They were incredibly friendly and it was so nice to put faces to usernames! We took a few pictures on the lower part of the carpet then traipsed up the stairs to the main section where the general public were lying in wait for people much more famous than us!
I have to tip my hat to to the folks who had queued for the official wristbands to wait in line on the red carpet and then waited through the heat of the day until everyone showed up - they deserved every autograph and photograph they got - it was absolutely baking out there!
We loitered for a bit but there was nobody there we recognised (though the Babes were themselves recognised!) so we headed inside and were ushered upstairs to a bar on the balcony level.
The balcony itelf was a stunning vista of backsides in every hue of the rainbow as people jostled for a spot to see over and back down on to the carpet we'd just strolled along - where the talent were just starting to show up.
There were various nudges of "Is that..?" "Isn't that...?" until finally we were rewarded with Amanda Abbington, Mark Gatiss, Ian Hallard, Beryl and Sue Vertue, Steven Moffat, Andrew Scott and Lara Pulver all showing up en masse. They all looked gorgeous, (Amanda was rocking a bright pink dress!) but special mention has to go to Lara Pulver who was truly stunning, even from our awkward vantage point!
Andrew Scott was clearly having a ball and the people on the line were loving him.
Some other famous faces came past; Ricky Gervais, Sir Terry Practhett, Rupert Penry Jones; we played spot the difference with Harry Hill and Ade Edmondson - easier when you remember Ade is the one Jennifer Saunders is
married to!
Then there was a definite murmur through the crowd both on the balcony and down below - sure enough, Mr Cumberbatch had arrived! He was at the far end - pre-carpet and moving at glacial pace because everyone wanted him.
Also spotted around the same time: Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton (Mummy and Daddybatch), the Fellowship winner Rolf Harris and his wife and Robert Lindsay (who's definitely another one in the "older men I totally would" category!)
Quick check - BC is now at the disabled seating area - he spent a long time there, for which we all only loved him even more and then he finally made it to the start of the press photo/interview area.
And then I looked past where BC was being interviewed and back at the disabled seating area... (remember to click thru for full-size)
And I'm ashamed to admit, I actually honest-to-God squeaked - just a tiny bit.
I genuinely hadn't expected him to be there, had barely even hoped - but lo-and-behold there was Mr Rupert Graves making his way up the red carpet.
It has to be said - he really is even more handsome than the camera gives him credit for - and it gives him plenty!
Well that sorts where my camera is pointing for the next 10 minutes at least - (Benedict who?)
(ETA: sorry guys - will finish adding pics later on Tuesday!)
I got the impression he was initially a little surprised by how many people on the line wanted to talk to him but he really seemed to be enjoying it! The only frustrating thing of course was that I was above and behind him so most of my pictures were of the back of his head!
Anyway, by the time Rupert went inside I had to do the same because I was frying out on the balcony - and it was nearly time to go sit down anyway.
We got handed our programmes on the way in and on every seat was a botle of water and a little packet of BAFTA mask shaped chocolates!
So we got comfy and then... disaster.
I put my camera on my lap to rearrange my bag, water bottle, programme and choccies - and my camera slid right off my lovely smooth dress and onto the floor with an ominous clunk - it never does that when I'm wearing jeans...
Picked it up again, fearing the worst... Turned out the camera was largely fine - except the automatic mechanism that opens the lens cover was knackered so when I held the camera up to take a shot the lens cover dropped across the middle of the lens.
*epic facepalm*
I could still take pictures if I held the camera lens out of the way but then my hand was blocking the flash. So I apologise for the quality of the inside pictures - they were taken on a very old Blackberry and a knackered camera with no flash. :(
Back to nicer things - the announcer asked everyone to take their seats -and half of the celebs started filing in through the door directly under us!
Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton stood chatting to Mark and Ian - and I spotted Benedict's shoes, if not the rest of him!
I pointed out people I recognised as they passed below us. Hubby nodded and "mm-hmmed" occasionally adding a "Wasn't he/she in...?". Only two people got more of a reaction out of him: "Ooh - Sue Perkins!" (he's a big fan of the Great British Bake Off and Supersizers) - and then, almost in passing, "He's very handsome."
"Who?" I ask - as I've just mentioned about thirty people in the past minute.
"That Ian Hallard chap - Mark Gatiss' partner."
Fair warning, Mark! ;)
It was very easy to keep track of Team Sherlock thanks to Amanda Abbington's dress! She sat and faced back towards the balcony and started waving to some of the BSB's. Mark and Ian were there chatting to her as the others slowly filed in.
Lara came in... then Andrew... then finally Rupert. He started down the stairs towards the front, then changed his mind and came back up to the entrance to hug the stuffing out of Timothy Spall (I mean a proper longer-than-3-second bear hug!) then he headed back down and turned in 6 rows behind Team Sherlock! Turned out, for whatever reason, Rupert was sitting beside Amelia Bullmore and the rest of Team Scott & Bailey. So no hard feelings I guess despite his non-appearance in Series 2 (and grisly end!) ;)
This put him about 40 feet directly in front of me - it was highly distracting! (And also completely wonderful!)
(I don't know who was sitting on his right but whenever I glanced that way he was either just sitting clapping or chatting to Amelia on his left.)
Anyway - Dara O'Briain was hilarious in his remarks before the show started properly, encouraging the balcony to make lots of noise because he couldn't rely on the "pricks" in the stalls - and then we were off!
I'll skip the ceremony - you've seen most of it if you watched on TV and the one thing we missed being in the hall was the reaction shots from people in the crowd (Benedict mouthing "sorry" for example). Was lovely to hear Rupert's voice in the brief clip of the 9/11 documentary (but I was very glad Terry Pratchett won that that one!)
The show dragged a little in the middle but all in all it was a fantastic evening - apart from a few results!
Afterwards we were just as strictly segregated as before. The names were having dinner - since we hadn't eaten for about 9 hours we thought we'd say bye-bye to the Babes and do likewise! We walked outside and down the side of the building - to find a bit of a scrum!
Benedict had nipped out for a pre-dinner ciggie and the waiting fans had pounced! I tried to get a decent shot with my crappy phone camera - not very successfully - but on the plus side that was when we bumped into the lovely @cumberbatchweb!
We chatted briefly then headed back to the hotel for room service and then collapsed into bed, for some reason suddenly very tired!
Am I sorry I didn't get to say "Hello" to Rupert? A little bit - but I get hopelesly tongue tied around people I have crushes on so maybe it was for the best! It was just wonderful actually seeing him in person.
Now if only we can get him back on the stage...