Duncan Kenworthy is getting British film's biggest pat on the back. BAFTA confirmed this week that the producer will receive its Fellowship, the academy's highest honour, at a special ceremony on Friday, October 23. Richard Curtis, his longtime writing partner and the man behind most of Kenworthy's biggest hits, will host.

If you've ever rewatched Four Weddings and a Funeral on a rainy Sunday, or sat through Love Actually every December because someone in the house insists on it, Kenworthy's fingerprints are on that. He produced all three of the Curtis films that basically invented the modern British rom-com template: Four Weddings in 1994, Notting Hill in 1999, Love Actually in 2003. Five decades in the business, and that stretch with Curtis is the one people know him for.

But the CV goes wider than the rom-coms. Kenworthy co-founded DNA Films with Andrew Macdonald, the outfit behind Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, The Last King of Scotland and, more recently, Civil War in 2024. There's a Henson connection too — Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, the Emmy-winning Gulliver's Travels, built on a long association with Jim Henson's company that goes back decades.

Thirty years inside BAFTA itself

Kenworthy isn't a stranger walking in to collect a trophy. He joined BAFTA's film committee in 1996, chaired it from 2004 to 2006, and served as vice president between 2009 and 2015. BAFTA has apparently named a room after him at its London headquarters, which tells you how embedded he is in the institution handing him this award.

He's also put money where his mouth is on the access problem British film keeps talking about. Through his own company, Toledo Productions, he set up the Toledo Scholarship, a financial aid programme aimed at students from underrepresented backgrounds trying to break into the industry.

BAFTA chair Sara Putt didn't hold back in her statement, calling Kenworthy "one of the great champions of British film and filmmaking talent" and crediting his charitable work alongside the films. Kenworthy's own reaction was characteristically understated: "I've been incredibly fortunate to spend my life doing something I love, alongside so many talented and inspiring people. Having been closely involved with BAFTA for more than 30 of those years, to be recognised in this way is very special."

The Fellowship puts him in company with Ridley Scott, Judi Dench, Martin Scorsese, Maggie Smith and Steven Spielberg, all previous recipients. The presentation on October 23 is being supported by Peugeot. What nobody's confirmed yet is whether Kenworthy and Curtis have anything new cooking together, three decades after Four Weddings started the whole thing.