The film inspired by true story which has scooped three awards at the Scottish BAFTAs

It is a film that was 35 years in the making, after writer and director Kirk Jones watched a documentary about the life of a young Scottish man with Tourette’s syndrome in 1989.

Now I Swear has won three awards at the Scottish BAFTAs, taking home gongs for the Film Actor, Director Fiction and the coveted Feature Film categories.

I Swear, which is based on the life of John Davidson, from Galashiels, was the only film to have any nominations in the film actor category, which was won by Robert Aramayo, with Peter Mullan and Scott Ellis Watson, all shortlisted.

Mr Mullan, Mark Bonnar, Sanjeev Kholi and Dougray Scott were among the Scottish actors who appeared on the red carpet in Glasgow on Sunday night, alongside Traitors winner Steven Libby - who won the Audience Award.

Mr Jones said winning three Scottish BAFTAs had been the “cherry on the cake” for the film, which has already scooped three UK BAFTAs and two categories at the British Independent Film Awards. He said he had made a promise to Mr Davidson not to “soften” his story.

He said: “I had already made a promise to John Davidson that I wouldn’t do that, that I would tell an honest and truthful account of what it’s really like to have Tourette’s syndrome. I didn’t want to go into a film and have the awful feeling that I went in with a really authentic script and then started softening it for commercial reasons. But the irony is it’s been incredibly commercially successful because it wasn’t dumbed down, we had complete creative freedom.

”I always hoped we could educate people about Tourette’s syndrome, but what I underestimated was how people with all kinds of neurodivergent conditions are all responding to a story of someone who was misunderstood, who was bullied, who was teased and who just kept fighting to educate people and encourage kindness and empathy.”

Mr Davidson, who made a brief appearance on the red carpet, watched the ceremony in a separate room in the same building at the Double tree Hilton in Glasgow after the film’s Baftas win last February sparked a row when the campaigner shouted an offensive word.

Mr Davidson said: “It means a lot to me. I needed to do this and I knew for a long time that it needed to happen but I didn't know how...we couldn't have done it any better.

"It's changed people’s views on how they look at Tourette’s and how people understand it. The awareness it's raised is unbelievable, it's fantastic."

Getty Images for BAFTA

Mr Libby described accepting the award as “completely ridiculous”.

He said: “This year has given me whiplash, I’ve done things that were never on my vision board - I’ve interviewed Kylie Minogue and Stanley Tucci and gone to the Oscars and these are things that for a wee boy from the Isle of Lewis, these aren’t things you ever think you’ll be doing”.

The entertainment category was won by Saturday Mash Up Live, while the best Single Documentary title was scooped by Love Liar Predator. The short film and animation category was won by We Will be Remembered here, by Lewis Hetherington and CJ Mahoney, while the Factual Entertainment category was won by Banjo and Ro’s Grand Island Hotel and the factual series by documentary The Beauty Queen and the Catfish. The television scripted category was taken by the Bombing of Pan Am 103.

Writer Film/Television was won by Edinburgh-based author Maggie O’Farrell for Hamnet, while Robert Carlyle won the Television Actor award for The Hack.

Lesley Manville won the Film Actress award for Mid Winter Break, while Lucy Halliday scooped the Television Actress category for The Testaments, based on the book by Margaret Atwood. She recently appeared in California Schemin’, in her only film shot in Scotland, a role for which she was nominated in the Film Actress category.

She said: “In Paisley’s central library growing up, I took out Margaret Atwood [books] like nobody’s business, so to be the token Scot on that show feels so wholesome and beautiful.”

Outlander was honoured with an award for its “outstanding contribution to television”, presented to four people who have been instrumental in Outlander’s impact, including Sam Heughan, who starred in the series and was an executive producer.

Heughan said the hit show, based on the Diana Gabaldon novels of the same name, had “changed his life”. He played Jamie Fraser in the series, which finished this year after eight series.

He told The Scotsman: “Personally, as an actor, it’s been huge, it’s changed my life. It’s been a huge chapter of it, 12 years of my life. Not only that, coming back to Scotland - I was living in London, I was a jobbing actor and then suddenly I was this runaway success. It’s done so much for me personally, but also for Scotland.

“It’s an amazing honour to be accepting the award tonight for Outlander. What it’s done for Scotland in terms of tourism, in terms of putting us on the world stage, it’s huge.”

He added: “The industry itself has grown so much since we came to Scotland with the show. There were no film studios, now there are multiple studios and a lot of big movies coming here. a lot of TV shows, so I feel very honoured that we’ve been the forebearer or the beginning of that Outlander effect. It’s employed hundreds of thousands of Scottish crew and cast, it’s helped regenerate historical sites. Wherever you go in the world, people know Outlander and they know Scotland.”

John Davidson on the red carpet at BAFTA Scotland. | Scotsman

Everybody to Kenmure Street - about a community resisting a Home Office immigration raid - won the Factual Director category

Presented by Edith Bowman, the awards ceremony referenced a “tough year” for the industry.

“It’s been a tough year for our screen sector, with the end of River City and the closure of the BBC Scotland linear channel,” said Ms Bowman. “But resilience is in our blood.”

She also paid tribute to the crew member on Netflix series Dept Q who died on Thursday in an incident in a Leith film studios.

“We were all saddened by the death of a crew member in Dept Q and wanted to send our thoughts and condolences to family friends and colleagues,” she said.