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The King's Speech ruled at the Baftas, winning seven awards including best film and best actor for Colin Firth. ( See Related BBC Coverage Here)

The King's Speech sweeps BAFTAs :

It also won outstanding British film, best original screenplay, supporting acting honours for Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush, and best score.

BAFTA Chairman's Introduction:
Academy Chairman; Tim Corrie opens the proceedings of the Orange British Academy Film Awards ceremony.
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Firth, who also won the best actor Bafta last year for A Single Man, joked: "I like coming here."

Colin Firth « I Like Coming Here » :

David Fincher was named best director for The Social Network. Black Swan's Natalie Portman was best actress.

Firth is the first star to win the best actor Bafta two years' running since the late Rod Steiger won back-to-back Baftas for The Pawnbroker in 1967 and In the Heat ofthe Night in 1968.

Best Actor:

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Bonham Carter, who plays Queen Elizabeth opposite Firth's King George VI, said:"I'm so used to losing, it's quite a strange feeling to win."

The film isabout the friendship that develops between the stammering monarch and his unorthodox speech therapist, played by Rush.

"It's amazing this little film seems to have spoken to the world and I'm deeply moved by that," said its writer David Seidler.

"For a stutterer, a stammerer, to be heard is a wonderful thing."

The film's producers said it could not have been made without the UK Film Council, which is soon to be abolished.

Tanya Seghatchian, head of the UK Film Council's Film Fund, said: "The King's Speech represents a great validation for the UK film industry as a whole and anamazing legacy for the UK Film Council."

The Social Network's stars, Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield, accepted the best director award on Fincher's behalf.

The movie, aboutthe creation of social networking phenomenon Facebook, also won Baftas for best adapted screenplay and best editing.

Social Networkwriter Aaron Sorkin said: "Normally I'd be excited about this, but sittingin the seat in front of me was one of the Beatles."

Sir Paul McCartney had presented the best score award.

Ahead of the ceremony, Sorkin said: "It is a huge honour [to be nominated]. If you're an American writer, what you really want to be is a British writer and this is as close as I'll get."

Portman, whose pregnancy stopped her flying to the UK for the ceremony, won best actress forher portrayal of a tortured ballerina in Black Swan.

Director Darren Aronofsky praised her dedication to the role as he accepted the prize on her behalf.

But it was a largely disappointing night for the film, which had garnered 12 nominations inall.

Rush was not there either to collect his supporting actor award due to stage commitments in New York.
In her acceptance speech, Bonham Carter thanked the royal family.

"I think Ishould thank the royal family frankly, because they've done wonders for my career.

"I seem tobe playing queens with ever decreasing head sizes," joked the actress, whoalso played the large-domed Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland.

Alexandre Desplat (BAFTA 2011 winner for Original Music) :

Composer Alexandre Desplat, who also wrote the score for The Queen, joked: "I didn't expect after writing for The Queen to be called for royal duties again."

Unsurprisingly,Toy Story 3 was named best animation feature film.

Best foreign film went to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, based on late Swedish crime writer Stieg Larsson's best-selling novel.

Christopher Nolan's Inception picked up three technical prizes for its sound, production design and special effects.

Tom Hardy, who stars in Inception, won Bafta's Rising Star award, voted for by the public,while Roger Deakins won the best cinematography prize for Western remake TrueGrit.

Chris Morris's satire Four Lions won the outstanding debut prize, though he wasnot there to collect his award.

Prizes for best make-up and hair and best costumes went to Alice in Wonderland.

Until the River Runs Red, made at the National Film and Television School, won best short film,while the prize for best short animation went to Michael Please's The Eagleman Stag.

Broadcaster Jonathan Ross, host of the event at London's Royal Opera House, opened the evening with a series of quick-fire gags.

He told the Americans in the audience at the Covent Garden venue: "This is pretty much what all of Britain looks like, apart from one street where Ken Loach lives with Mike Leigh in a council flat."

He also promised that controversial Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais would not be allowed into the building.

Firth has already won a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award forhis King's Speech performance, for which he has also received an Oscar nomination.

The 50-year-old was recognised again last week at the London Film Critics' Circle awards.

Danny Boyle's127 Hours had received eight Bafta nominations but went home empty-handed.

Ahead of the ceremony, Boyle said that it was "very nice to be included".

Screen Writer David Seidler's reaction to being nominated for an Oscar.

Full Interview of David Seldler's "The King's Speech":

"I suspect we'll be bridesmaids tonight but there's nothing wrong with bridesmaids,"he added.

Harry Potter creator JK Rowling said seeing her books made into films had been "one ofthe best experiences of my life" as the series was honoured for its outstanding contribution to British Cinema.

And SirChristopher Lee was honoured with the Academy's prestigious Fellowship,receiving a standing ovation as he took to the stage.

"I'm glad I don't follow in the footsteps of the great Stanley Kubrick, whose award was posthumous," he quipped as he accepted his honour from director Tim Burton.

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BAFTA: Home of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts