Alan Cumming slammed for 'painfully unfunny' Baftas speech as he makes US political dig in 'awful' opening monologue

Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another topped this year's nominations with 14 nods, while close behind with 13 nominations was Ryan Coogler's vampie action-thriller Sinners.

Elsewhere, Marty Supreme and Hamnet each received 11 nominations, while Frankenstein secured eight nods. I Swear, the biographical drama chronicling Scottish Tourette's campaigner John Davidson, picked up five nominations.

It was left to Mr Cumming to introduce each of this year's films during his opening gambit.

Typically, the presenter will use this opportunity to poke fun at those nominated or provide a joke. However, when it came to Mr Cumming, many felt he missed the mark.

Mr Cumming began by reflecting on this year's biggest films, describing it as a great year for "daddy issues" films.

He proceeded to ridicule each film for being "anxiety-ridden", before joking he was on the verge of a "nervous breakdown" watching each of the flicks.

Mr Cumming said that watching Marty Supreme was like a “core workout” and complained that Hamnet’s story of child death was far from easy watching.

His mockery wasn't reserved just for the highly-nominated films either, as when Mr Cumming turned to this year's animated offerings, he couldn't resist a political dig.

"Do you know the plot of Zootropolis 2? Lies, corrupt leaders, poisoning, and persecution of a race. Too soon, Disney, come on,” he quipped.

Taking the chance to swipe at the Trump administration across the pond, Mr Cumming went on: “It’s almost as though, I don’t know, there are events going on in the real world that are influencing filmmakers.

"Anyone know what I’m talking about? No. Ring any bells for you Americans, particularly?"

The jibe drew a rather flat response from the auditorium, including a slightly bemused look on the face of One Battle After Another star Teyana Taylor.

In an attempt to draw the audience in, Mr Cumming then suggested that the state of current affairs warranted a joint "primal scream".

"I think it’d be a good idea if we all just had one big collective primal scream. Ready?" he said.

Mr Cumming then bellowed out a scream on stage, as a few members of the star-studded crowd joined in.

“That felt better, didn’t it?” the Scottish presenter asked before moving on with the rest of his monologue.

Sadly for Mr Cumming, the rest of his set seemed to fall flat with both audience members and TV viewers watching at home.

He joked about the B in Michael B Jordan's name standing for "Buffy," given his muscular physique and his Sinners character's prowess at vampire slaying.

Mr Cumming also took part in a bizarre airline-esque announcement skit. In fact, the biggest cheer Mr Cumming received on the evening was when he highlighted how Hamnet was the most nominated film by a female director of all time.

Taking to X soon after Mr Cumming's monologue aired, several viewers slammed the contents of his opening speech.

"Alan Cummings already dying on his a**e... #Baftas," one X user critiqued moments into Mr Cumming's monologue.

Meanwhile, a second was keen to see Mr Cumming replaced: "#Baftas wish it was David Tennant presenting..."