'Conclave' was named Best Film at the EE BAFTA Film Awards

Speaking live on stage at the Royal Festival Hall during the ceremony, he said: "First of all, I wanna say, about seven years ago, I got my hands on this script by Peter and I started reading everything he'd written.

"Suddenly, out of the blue, Tessa [Ross, producer] called to say she had a script by him. You might imagine how I felt. Thank you for your wonderful script."

The German-born filmmaker then thanked his leading stars for their work on the film, and described it was "complete magic" when he was watching them bring the story to life on set.

He added: "Ralph, Isabella, and the rest of the ensemble, what you did to me on set when I watched it was pure magic. It was beyond my grasp or understanding. We would never be here without you and I'm so glad I was able to witness it. Thank you."

Just before the cast and crew left the stage with their accolade, Tessa stepped up to give a few words where she thanked audiences around the world for "embracing" the film as she called for others to "celebrate" differences..

She said: "The audiences have been so wonderful to embrace the wit and intrigue, and maybe that the world is better if we celebrate difference and that's the thing we're so proud of. Thank you."