Viewers found themselves pining for previous incumbent Jack Whitehall’s edgy barbs and pop star-baiting. Gilligan didn’t seem to have written any actual jokes. He settled for saying “Oi, oi!”, doing dodgy impressions and reiterating how great it was to be there. Gilligan is excellent when hosting his freewheeling Channel 4 vehicle The Lateish Show. Promoted to primetime ITV, he was out of his depth.

The night’s sole representative for old-fashioned rock’n’roll was former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher – the one-man crimewave who managed to kick off feuds with Michael Hutchence, Blur, Robbie Williams and Peter Kay at previous ceremonies. When he swaggered on-stage, viewers had every right to sit forward on their sofas in the hope that something interesting might happen. Gallagher proceeded to be as blandly proficient as everyone else. But hey, at least he wore a new hat. Nice earflaps, our kid. 

Guest presenter Ronnie Wood, in a frankly bizarre accent, thanked the bands “keeping the rock tradition alive” – while introducing a category led by, ahem, Coldplay. Well, what did we expect from a show “in association with Mastercard”?

There was the odd high point. Little Simz, Sam Fender and rapper Dave delivered incendiary performances – although the latter was a wilfully odd choice to close the show. This is a slot traditionally reserved for Brits legends belting out a crowd-pleasing medley of their hits, not a load of men with their hoods up, mumbling around a campfire.