Fry thrilled at BAFTA invitation

Stephen Fry was thrilled to be asked to present the BAFTA awards this year.

Perhaps he was also a mite surprised, given that television critics from certain quarters called his 2002 performance “smutty” and accused him of using “gutter language” and making “crude sexual references”.

Fry is incredulous when reminded of all the media tut-tutting. “Rude? Was I rude?” he asks. “I don’t remember it that way, do you? I think I said w*** when I was making a joke about the Archbishop of Canterbury, but that’s all.”

The BAFTA bosses certainly can’t have been too scandalised if they’ve asked him to present it for the third time. And the criticism won’t cramp Fry’s style.

“I’ll still pick fun,” he says. “But I hope in the right spirit because I am very respectful of these people. It’s a terribly 80s and 90s thing to be so cynical.

“People say the BAFTAs are a completely narcissistic, self-congratulatory thing,” continues Fry. “But of course it is – it’s an awards ceremony.

“Hugh Laurie and I used to make money by going to Birmingham NEC and presenting things like the Philips small appliance awards. We’d say, ‘And now for the electric shaver (light) North East salesman of the year – Don Paterson’, at which point he’d come on to the stage, collect his award and burst into tears.

“So every industry has awards ceremonies – and good luck to them.”

Fry, 45, has come a long way since his shaver ceremony days. His biography is a long list of outstanding achievements, outlandish behaviour and outrageous media statements.

He attended Uppingham public school in Norfolk but continually ran away and was eventually expelled. As a teenager he was an obsessive thief and was sentenced to three months at Pucklechurch prison for credit card fraud. And at the age of 16 he tried to commit suicide.

Fry attended Cambridge University where he earned a 2:1 in English and joined the famous Footlights theatrical club alongside Emma Thompson, Tony Slattery and Hugh Laurie.

He has also written plays and his 1984 re-write of Noel Gay’s musical, Me And My Girl, made him a millionaire aged 27. He did a huge amount of television work during the 80s – most notably Blackadder and Jeeves And Wooster – and has since written four novels, starred in numerous films and recently directed Dame Judi Dench, Peter O’Toole and Emily Mortimer in his new film Bright Young Things.

Fry has confessed to taking Ecstasy and cocaine, used to describe himself as celibate and even more famously fled Britain for Brussels while suffering a black dose of depression amidst poor reviews of the Cell Mates play.

The sorry tale has been dredged up recently in the wake of Sadie Frost’s high profile depression.

“Whenever depression is in the news people always mention mine,” sighs Fry. “I can understand that. I’m not ashamed of it. But by its very nature when you are not suffering it you don’t want to talk about it.”

The only turmoil Fry is suffering now is nerves, especially contemplating presenting the Orange British Academy Film Awards in front of a live television audience of six million.

“Of course I shall be terribly nervous,” he says. “But I so want not to be. Oh dear – now I’ve said that I’m sure some awful disaster will happen.”

Last year’s mixed reviews won’t help Fry’s frayed nerves. But whatever they thought of his jokes, the press had a field day at last year’s BAFTAs, what with a foaming red carpet and a scuffling Russell Crowe.

Will there be any fisticuffs this year? “Well,” laughs Fry. “It would be lovely to see if Renee Zellwegger wants to rip Meryl Streep’s eyes out but I don’t think she will. I don’t think Daniel Day-Lewis will hit anybody – he’s eccentric but not violent. And Stephen Daldry is extremely nice, he wouldn’t ever dream of such a thing.”

While many would be intimidated by such starry company, Fry can’t wait to be among his friends at the BAFTAs. But there are still a few famous names he’d like to get to know.

“I’d very much like to meet Martin Scorsese,” he says. “I absolutely love his films and the passion he has for films – and of course those hairy millipede eyebrows.

“And I’d be particularly interested to see Jack Nicholson. I did speak to him four or five years ago at the Golden Globes. I said, ‘Well done,’ and he said, ‘Thanks, kid.’ He called me kid! I was so excited I nearly wet myself.”

This year’s BAFTAs seem to be dominated by Gangs Of New York and Chicago, so who does Fry think will win?

“One really has no idea,” he says. “Armed guards stand in front of the envelopes, and if you look at them you will be mowed down with a hail of bullets from a semi-automatic weapon.

“It’s absolutely secret. Although we do know about the special awards and fellowships. And no – I can’t tell you.”

Less secret is the fact Fry has recently turned down an offer to replace Angus Deayton as the Have I Got News For You host.

“I made it clear I wouldn’t want to do it,” he explains. “Firstly, Angus made the show his own. And taking over would have been disloyal, because Angus - or Gussy as I like to call him – is a very good friend.

“I’m also very fond of Paul and Ian, but felt they showed a great lack of solidarity. They could have gone to the BBC and said they’d walk if Gussy was sacked, but I’m ashamed to say they didn’t.

“It was stupid to have got rid of him. He’s not the Pope. He’s not an ambassador. He takes coke and has slept with a prostitute – but he’s a TV presenter for God’s sake.”

Speaking of coke – does Fry still take the drug? “No,” he says. Not even recreationally? “Well, I never took it professionally,” he quips.

Indeed, he seems to have put his troubled past well behind him. For the past six years he’s been happily ensconced with partner Daniel Cohen, which is the only subject he likes to keep quiet.

Did he give or receive any Valentine’s cards? “Yes,” he teases. “But that’s probably all I’ll say about that.”

But is he truly happy? “Oh yes,” he says. “I’m not about to take a flight to Brussels.”