Alan Cumming will go down as one of the worst Bafta hosts ever so there's only one man who can do the job next year - Alex Davies

Therefore, millions across the globe tune in. At this year's event, I saw journalists from Ireland, Australia, the United States, and beyond had descended on the capital to see which star would be awarded the famous-faced gong.

So for the one night of the year that British cinema takes centre stage in a global auditorium, you'd be forgiven for thinking every stop would be pulled to ensure Bafta warranted its spot as an awards season darling.

Sadly, with Mr Cumming at the helm, this year's ceremony did quite the opposite. Within moments of this year's Baftas, social media was awash with complaints about the quality of material on offer.

The awards kicked off with a Zoom call sketch. A pandemic-esque skit that was maybe befitting of 2020, but even then, the jokes would've needed sharpening.

There was Succession's Brian Cox in a kitten filter, a muted and supposedly absent Leonardo DiCaprio, and a - I'm afraid to say - wooden Warwick Davis.

Even the performing powerhouse that is Hannah Waddingham failed to save the opening gambit as she desperately tried to inject some levity into the sketch.

She failed. But fear not, because viewers were then transported to the main event. Forget pre-recorded skits, this was the time to grab audiences with some topical and close-to-the-bone humour.

But on that promise, Mr Cumming failed to deliver once again.

"I am your host, your guide, your chaperone, the Wizard to your Oz, the Frankenstein to your monster, the ping to your pong, the verbal aggressive dom to your snivelling sub."

Meanwhile, fans at home were hoping he'd be more "departing" from "the stage".

Mr Cumming's opening monologue struggled to find its feet during eight minutes of humourless gags and poorly executed skits.

After insisting it had "been a great year for daddy issues", the first film that fell into his sights was Pillion. No, me neither.

Mr Cumming called out leading star Harry Melling in the crowd before bellowing out: "Get me a glass of sparkling water right now!"

Never mind being able to hear a pin drop in the Royal Festival Hall, I'm pretty sure you'd have been able to hear one dropped at Wembley in the aftermath.

This is meant as no disrespect to Pillion, it bagged three Bafta noms after all. But perhaps joking about a film that only grossed $3million at the global box office while you have nine-figure behemoths Marty Supreme and One Battle After Another at your disposal was never going to be relatable to the masses.

Mr Cumming did then turn his attention to the rest of the films on offer.

"Watching the films this year was like taking part in a collective nervous breakdown," he said to a ripple of chuckles.

"Hamnet, a film about child death, great! And they must've had to put Jessie Buckley on a drip after all that crying," he added. The Irish actress let out a wry smile as tumbleweed drifted behind her.

He went on: "One Battle After Another, constant stress. Hurry up, Leo! And why don't you know your password? This is why you shouldn't do drugs, kids.

"Sinners, any Scottish or Irish person will tell you never let any folk singers into a party, they're always vampires. And Marty Supreme was so anxiety-ridden (that) watching it was like doing a core workout. And a dog nearly died. How dare you, Timothee Chalamet?

"Bugonia with Emma Stone, the loveliest person in the world... not any more, have you seen it? She wants to kill us all! Watch your back, Jesse Plemons."

After ploughing on despite the frosty feedback, Mr Cumming decided to veer as close to the line as he could by turning political. Although again, to say he missed the mark would be an understatement.

"Whatever happened to escapism? I'm exhausted. 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? Ring any bells for you Americans, in particular?"

The face of One Battle After Another star Teyana Taylor told the story as she stared blankly at the awards host.

The Traitors USA host proceeded to encourage a "collective primal scream" among attendees in protest at the state of global affairs. Although I fear many of those who participated were screeching at the pain of sitting through the opening monologue.

The set wasn't done there as Mr Cumming ended his gambit by descending into an airline skit, using a tannoy as if he were aboard "Air Bafta".

He reeled off a series of "safety warnings", such as "putting egos under the seat in front of you", and collaring the aforementioned Ms Taylor for being "smoking".

In fact, it was rather damning that the only way to know the audience was still awake was when attendees released their biggest cheer of the evening for Hamnet's Chloe Zhao after Mr Cumming mentioned that the drama was the most nominated film directed by a woman in the history of the Baftas.

There were a few slightly humorous moments from Mr Cumming later in the show, to be fair.

After entering the star-studded crowd to hand out British snacks, his offering to Timothee Chalamet of a packet of Scampi Fries and asking Kylie Jenner if she'd ever "had her gums around a giant Jammie Dodger" did result in some chuckles.

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But let's not kid ourselves. These ceremonies are often over three hours in length, and although the BBC does trim the Baftas to a two-hour broadcast, there's a lot of heavy lifting to be done.

The host has to command the audience and oversee proceedings without a single bum note. Laughs have to flow, jokes have to land, and no one in the audience should be safe.

Even Trevor Noah, like him or loathe him, did well to see out his tenure as Grammys host earlier this year with a pretty watertight set.

And Nikki Glaser's performance at the Golden Globes earned plaudit after plaudit. The comedian even let loose on CBS, the very network she'd been hired by to oversee the awards.

So it may come as no surprise that after Mr Cumming's "excruciating", "painful", and "cringe" set - not my words, just look on X - perhaps Bafta should turn towards someone who has experience in making awards shows not just memorable, but iconic.

Of course, no man would be better suited to breathe life back into the Baftas than Ricky Gervais.

His Golden Globes sets are trotted out every year as the gold standard of how to front an awards show, and his recent victory for Best Stand-Up at this year's Stateside awards proves he's as popular as ever.

He's Netflix's golden boy. Every special he churns out shoots to number one in the streaming charts, and his shows sell out within minutes of going on sale.

More importantly, he's British, and he possesses a global appeal that very few can even come close to. What more could Bafta want?

They tried with Mr Cumming. I imagine his stint as the face of The Traitors USA led to execs thinking he would provide a trans-Atlantic viewing boost.

But in an era where fewer and fewer eyeballs are watching each of these shows, you can't argue that a comeback for Mr Gervais would breathe new life into awards season.

And unless there's a serious rethink, the same reception that befell Cumming will happen again and again.