The late film critic Philip French has been remembered in this year’s in memoriam montage at the Baftas.
French, who died at the age of 82 last October, worked at the Observer for 35 years and was known as one of the country’s foremost film journalists. He was made an honorary member of Bafta in 2008 and was appointed OBE in 2013.
Among the stars who were also included in this year’s segment were Alan Rickman, Wes Craven, Sir Christopher Lee and James Horner who all died in the last 12 months.
Last year, Bafta was under fire for omitting Bob Hoskins in the place of Hollywood stars such as Robin Williams and Lauren Bacall.
The organisation said in a statement: “Bafta features individuals in televised obituaries only once, sadly due to the number of people we’d like to recognise at any one time, and that means difficult decisions have to be made as to which ceremony they should be included in. As Bob died in April last year, just before the television awards, we felt it was right to remember his wonderful career then, rather than wait until last night’s film awards.”
