JAN MOIR: And the award for infinite woke lectures and treating us like idiots goes to… David Tennant

The awards season has barely begun but already the sea of cringe is at high tide, coming in fast.

Take your pick from the ick. The Bafta Film Awards 2025 (BBC1) was practically unwatchable, and not just because host David Tennant got his jock on for his opening number, wearing a kilt and singing a Proclaimers song, causing Scots everywhere to upchuck their porridge in horror.

This, on top of Wee Nicola, the rugby and everything else. Haven’t we suffered enough?

Why was Tennant even there? It is less than a year since he famously told Kemi Badenoch to ‘shut up’ and wished for a world in which she ‘doesn’t exist any more’ because he disagreed with her views on trans rights.

If the former Doctor Who star had been so publicly abusive to a darling of the Left, such as Jess Phillips or even Labour’s deputy leader St Ange of Mange, it is unlikely he would even have been allowed a cheap seat at the back of the Bafta audience, let alone given the honour of hosting it.

Yet we all know that in luvvieland, there are acceptable opinions and there are unacceptable opinions. There are those who are venerated and never criticised and then there is the Conservative Party and Donald Trump, upon whom you can shovel any amount of steaming abuse.

Describing The Brutalist as ‘a film about incredible architecture’, Tennant told the audience: ‘It’s the boldest architecture in film this year, apart from Donald Trump’s hair in The Apprentice.’

Laugh? I thought I’d never start. The only funny thing was that it was David’s own hair that looked absolutely ridiculous, currently dyed an unforgiving shade of cowpat bronze for his recurring role as Crowley in Neil Gaiman‘s fantasy TV series Good Omens. 

Speaking of which, for a man who always positions himself on the side of the righteous, way up there on the moral high ground, Tennant has been remarkably quiet about the accusations of sexual assault against his friend Gaiman.

Over the past year, eight women have come forward to accuse the British-born author of multiple counts of sexual misconduct.

Gamain has denied all allegations and stepped back from the production of Good Omens, while Tennant has said absolutely nothing. Zip. You’d have to walk five hundred miles and then five hundred more just to be the man who said no comment at his front door. And this is unusual for him. Just ask Kemi.

During her time in government, the now Conservative leader advocated for banning trans women from entering women’s toilets, changing rooms and sports teams to protect female rights and safety.

This seems an entirely reasonable position to take, but it did not sit well with Tennant, whose support for trans and non-binary children is well known. He has taken to wearing slogan T-shirts such as ‘Leave Trans Kids Alone, You Absolute Freaks’, and while his support for these children is admirable, surely it should not come at the expense of other children?

He piously claimed he was on the side of ‘human decency’ and believed that ‘everyone has the right to be who they want to be’ before arguing against Badenoch’s right to even exist.

‘Until we wake up and Kemi Badenoch doesn’t exist any more – I don’t wish ill of her, I just wish her to shut up,’ he said.

This is a perfect example of the ideological intransigence of the pro-trans community, melded with the classic opportunism of the big star who simply cannot resist imposing their, his or her politicised values on an audience at every opportunity.

Why? It is as if they are terrified that we won’t notice victimhood or prejudice unless they bring it to our attention. It has got to the stage today where every drama is an opportunity to be exploited; a lecture to be delivered to the great ignorati (us), who cannot be trusted to work things out for ourselves.

Accepting his Outstanding Debut Bafta award on Sunday, Kneecap director Rich Peppiatt said that his was ‘more than a film, it’s a movement. Everyone should have their language respected, their culture respected. This award is dedicated to everyone out there fighting that fight.’

Conclave director Edward Berger was even more serious about the state of the world.

‘We live in a crisis of democracy,’ he said, accepting the award for Best Film. ‘Institutions that are usually used to bring us together are used to pull us apart. And sometimes it’s hard to keep the faith in that situation, but that’s why we make movies.’

Do we really? Even the talented young star Mikey Madison, who won the Best Actress Bafta for her role as a prostitute in Anora, was not immune. She dedicated her award to sex workers everywhere, saying: ‘I see you. You deserve respect and human decency. I will always be a friend and ally.’

Mikey, that is quite a big promise to make and keep. Perhaps you even mean it.

Yet while actors indulge themselves by inflicting their pet or current obsessions on their long-suffering fanbase, much more invidious wokery and damage is being done behind the scenes. Just look at Doctor Who, in which Tennant himself starred as the Tenth Doctor for four years.

Once hugely popular, the BBC show has now slumped in the ratings and seemingly been abandoned by Disney in America.

Why? Critics say the franchise has been utterly destroyed by woke extremism and gender-obsessed zealots focusing on issues instead of plot. Once upon a time Doctor Who was about exciting time-travel adventures in outer space, complete with cybermen and daleks. Now it’s all drag queens, transfolks, misgendering and widespread confused sexual identity.

When Tennant made a guest appearance as the Fourteenth Doctor in the 2023 Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials, it was to promulgate a storyline that the Doctor had been gay all along.

Well, so what? It doesn’t even matter. Yet if you ignore the British appetite for quality storytelling and supplant it with endless soapboxing, you can expect the worst.

Whether it is at an awards ceremony or within the storylines of a much-loved heritage series, audiences are fed up with the screech of preach, the endless lecturing and being treated like idiots.

Cher’s timeless tips

Performing at the Saturday Night Live 40th anniversary show, Cher stunned everyone – including Kevin Costner and Billy Crystal – with her bodystocking outfit and raucous performance.

The inspirational star is 78 years old – but age has not withered her.

At her book launch in London earlier this year, I watched Cher explain her stay-young philosophy to the sellout audience. ‘Oh, I’m older than dirt now,’ she said. 

‘I’m the oldest person I meet in every room, unless I go to an old folk’s home. Some of my friends complain about turning 40, and I say: ‘Listen, get over yourself. I’d give anything to be 60 again.’

‘You’ve got to just keep living your life until you die. Keep going for it. You can never give up. Don’t let old age get in your way.’

What would she do if she could turn back time? ‘I’d do it all over again,’ she said.

What a queen.

Kiss was wrong, but not jailable

Former Spanish soccer boss Luis Rubiales was found guilty of sexually assaulting player Jenni Hermoso for kissing her after the 2023 Women’s World Cup final.

It has been a difficult case, with polarised opinion on all sides. It didn’t help that still images of the incident looked so incredibly damning, while the video footage put the fleeting kiss in a slightly less negative context.

Women who have been the victims of serious sexual assault or rape and have failed to get a conviction perhaps feel aggrieved that this matter ever came to court. Yet while Rubiales’s emotions took over in the heat of the moment, he still put his uninvited lips onto those of a young woman. And these days, such boundary-busting behaviour has consequences – and rightly so.

However, I am glad the prosecution failed in its preposterous attempt to have him jailed. Instead he was given an £8,250 fine and left to pick up the pieces of his life.

Mother and Christian school worker Kristie Higgs was concerned about books in her son’s primary school; one called My Princess Boy about a boy who wears dresses and a tiara, and another about a crayon who has an identity crisis. 

Predictably she was immediately sacked and branded an extremist – but has now won her dismissal case at the Court of Appeal.

The fightback against this ridiculous wokery continues.

As ever, Meghan can’t stop putting her foot in her mouth

You could argue that the Duchess of Sussex has been unlucky. Or you could contend that she brings a lot of bad luck upon herself. Either way, like Shrove Tuesday, its one pancake after another these days.

Remember that mere weeks after she and Prince Harry relocated to North America, Covid happened. That was a bummer for the ambitious duchess.

More recently her Netflix television cooking series had to be postponed because of the LA fires.

Along the way there were also problems with her big moment – when she announced the birth of her lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard. ARO soon disappeared under a mulch of trademark issues.

The same thing has happened with the rebooted launch of the new version, now called As Ever. There have been two complaints already, citing fresh copyright infringements about the name itself and the logo. What a disaster.

As ever? As if!

One has to wonder what kind of idiots are advising these idiots. Or if the Sussexes think they simply know better about everything and don’t listen to advice from anyone.

Earlier this week, Meghan dropped another mock-gauche clip on social media to announce the latest launch.

Why can’t she do a short Instagram video in one take? She is supposed to be an actress, after all. Instead, she has doltish Harry filming away, another surrendered Insta husband obeying instructions.

And she adopts her usual grating chummy tone, overlaid with a gloss of casual superiority. ‘Jam is my jam,’ she said, with all the girlboss charisma of a puddle of fruit pulp.

Meghan airily explained away the name change by saying that ARO limited her to products from that geographical area of California – but everyone knows that wasn’t the whole story at all.

Here’s the thing. If you are presenting yourself as a lifestyle guru, you must be – above all – authentic. And – as ever – it is that very authenticity that is sadly lacking here.