The EE British Academy Film Awards announced their new host, and she's absolutely fabulous, darling.

News that Joanna Lumley would replace regular host Stephen Fry came at a press conference in London to announce nominations for the prestigious awards.

"Honestly, how exciting is this?" Joanna gushed to reporters. "It's just so unbelievably thrilling. Who thought I'd turn into Stephen Fry?"

Who indeed. Stephen has hosted the ceremony for the past 12 years, but recently stepped down to "let others take the Baftas on to new heights."

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Those heights will be reached next month, in an awards ceremony that looks set to feature a run-off for the most gongs between Guillermo del Toro fantasy epic The Shape of Water, Martin McDonagh's Golden Globe-winning black comedy Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and Gary Oldman-starring Churchill drama Darkest Hour.

Anglo faves populated the acting categories, with Gary Oldman, Daniel Day-Lewis, Jamie Bell, and Daniel Kaluuya up against each other in the Best Leading Actor category, and Sally Hawkins and Saoirse Ronan among those nominated for Best Leading Actress.

A few British films came under the spotlight too, with Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk receiving eight nominations, and Paddington 2 receiving three — though you'd be hard-pressed to imagine two less similar movies.

The BAFTA Film Awards are often seen as an early indicator of the films that might be nominated by the Academy, due to be announced on January 23. If that's the case, then The Shape of Water's whopping 13 BAFTA nominations positions it for Oscar glory, while the failure of The Post, the Steven Spielberg-directed heavy hitter starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, to pick up any nominations suggests it might not be the sure-fire award winner many predicted.

This year's BAFTA Film Awards will take place at London's Royal Albert Hall on Sunday, February 18, 8/7c on BBC AMERICA.

The BBC has details of all the nominees.

Can you spot your favorites?