Follow the Brits as it happens

Keep track of all the action from the Brits 2009 and have your say on Handbag's live blog

Here's how the Brits 2009 unfolded, minute-by-minute...

19:50 Hello and welcome to Handbag's Brits 2009 live blog. Gavin and Stacey stars Matthew Horne and James Corden are co-presenting with Kylie. Rumour has it Kylie was brought in to help keep things clean, but we've still got our fingers crossed for a little bit of scandal...

19:54 What are your predictions for tonight? Who do you think will win the big prizes? Who are you looking forward to seeing? Handbag is just hoping that it isn't the predictable Coldplay/Duffy-fest!

19:57 Thank God for that, Coronation Street has finished! Get ready for the action...

19:58 Word has it that the set design is all cows and caravans, not long to wait to find out...

20:00 Not exactly the most cutting edge of starts with U2 kicking things off... shouldn't these guys be saving the world or something?

20:03 Oh wait a minute, they're preaching about war and stuff... so sort of like saving the world. (Overheard in the Handbag office: "This song is **** isn't it?" Your author can only concur, although doesn't condone the swearing, obviously).

20:05 This is more like it... men in dresses dancing with Kylie! We'd have liked that to have lasted a little bit longer... and U2 a little less!

20:08 Simon Pegg presents best British female act to... Duffy. Nice shoes, not sure about the dress though. Apparently she doesn't know what a British female is, well it's a woman born in Britain, Duffy...

You can see all the triumphant acts in our winners' gallery here.

20:10 How great does Kylie look? Starting to get a bit freaked out by James Corden in the dress now though.

20:13 Lionel Richie presents best international female to... Katy Perry, who according to ITV's host has never actually kissed a girl. How does she know, is what we'd like to know?

20:15 Here come the Girls, just about managing to usurp Katy Perry on the idiosyncratic outfits front.

20:16 Oh God why do they let Cheryl sing? You're not Beyonce so stop trying to be! And just let Nadine sing, she's much better!

20:20 Cheryl aside, they certainly put U2 to shame. What do you reckon?

20:21 Rather dull Fearne Cotton interview with Duffy gives us a chance to debate whether James Cordon's Kylie sex joke was a bit creepy. What do you think?

20:23 If all this Brits business isn't quite X Factor enough for you, they're having a public vote for best British single (does any TV programme take place without a phone vote these days?). I guess they have to pay Kylie somehow... just as long as the great British public don't vote for Scouting for Girls...

20:27 If anyone can justify Matthew Horne's hair... and suit... we might just give you a prize. And more sex jokes from Corden, or Smithy as we're refusing not to call him... Give it a rest James!

20:28 Alex James presents the best breakthrough act, eventually... to Duffy. We're beginning to think she should just stand at the edge of the stage to speed things up a little. 

20:29 Duffy clearly hasn't been reading the Liam Gallagher manuel on how to cause a stink... come on, stop being so nice, slag Adele off or something!

20:30 Does Chris Martin only have one outfit? He used to rule the world, apparently. Maybe he can't afford a new one now that he no longer yields such power.

You can see all the triumphant acts in our winners' gallery here. 

20:34 Does the Coldplay drummer remind anyone else of Quasimodo?

@Pinkypoo We have to disagree. Sarah is awesome! Well, compared to Cheryl anyway.

20:40 How long are those ad breaks? Not too keen on Kylie's new dress. Natalie Imbruglia, though... wow! Does she ever age?

20:41 And Natalie gives the best international group gong to... Kings Of Leon. Too right! Can't wait for their performance... can someone please give an interesting acceptance speech though!

20:44 As if one bland Jamie wasn't enough, the Brits give us two: Cullum and Oliver. Nominations for this best male category are not too inspiring either, especially as betting was suspended on Paul Weller before the event.

20:45 And Weller wins it, but still couldn't be bothered to turn up.

20:47 Duffy chooses to perform her most boring song. Nice little earner for the copious session musicians though.

20:51 Joe Calzaghe wants someone to beat up. Can we suggest James Corden?

20:53 Is it just us are the performances in the MasterCard ads among the best of the night? Take That and Kings of Leon on the way... after some more ads.

20:56 Smithy gives Calzaghe more than enough reason to hit him... sadly Calzaghe turns him down. Instead he presents the best international album to... Kings of Leon. Two in the bag for them, equal with Duffy now.

You can see all the triumphant acts in our winners' gallery here.

21:00 Kings of Leon recognise the important role of England in their careers... and manage to ensure no-one in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will ever buy their records ever again!

21:01 Gary Barlow thinks tonight could be the greatest day of his life... no awards yet Gaz! And what's with the glasses? Are they being sponsored by Specsavers?

21:03 Hold the front page! Are Take That miming?!

@Pinkypoo Our thoughts exactly regarding the specs.

21:06 OK, are we the only people who think Nick Frost is nowhere near famous enough for this? Or did they just get him on to make Smithy not look thinner? He's given the best live British act to... Iron Maiden. Rock and indeed roll!

21:08 Following on from Iron Maiden's slightly surreal acceptance speech, we feel it necessary to start a debate on what age it's no longer acceptable for men to have long hair?

21:10 Great to see the Hoff isn't afraid of a bit of self-parody. Nice of him to resurrect that suit from 1996 too.

21:11 To the delight of some of our commenters (see below), Elbow see off the big boys (and girls) to win best British group.

21:13 We take it back about Kylie's fee, she's not exactly working hard for it is she.

21:14 Kings of Leon are the latest act to make you question why the hell they let U2 open the show.

Our commenters are now suggesting U2 may have been miming too. The shame!

You can see all the triumphant acts in our winners' gallery here.

21:18 The Hoff cracks on to Fearne Cotton. It's a little bit disturbing.

21:25 Here comes the serious bit, the critics'choice. The winner is Florence and the Machine. Nice for her to get a bit of exposure... if only the sound hadn't gone. She tells us she's off to get drunk, and quite frankly it's about time someone did. This is a very sober Brits so far.

21:26 Gok Wan wants to know if everyone looks good naked. Everyone says yes. Let's hope Smithy doesn't decide to prove it.

21:27 Gok presents best international male to Kanye West , who is wearing a very pink shirt. He thinks that this award will help him pull in clubs. We beg to differ with that shirt.

21:29 Estelle crashes the Ting Tings' party and it kind of works, after a shaky start.

21:33 Kylie's in her fourth dress. They seem to be getting progressively worse. Alan Carr, meanwhile admits has the grace to admit his own wardrobe malfunction before giving the best British single to... Girls Aloud for The Promise. This is the one the public voted for, hence Alan's Diana Vickers' joke.

21:35 Kimberly from GA struggles not to have a nervous breakdown while reminding everyone the public loves them (yes, we know, we saw Popstars). Sarah Harding is as ladylike as ever, declaring that she's just wet herself.

21:37 Tom Jones - showing Iron Maiden how to grow old gracefully - presents the best British album to... Duffy. That's the hat-trick, which as we're told means she's now as legendary as, er, The Darkness (remember them?).

21:40 Duffy breaks down in her speech, meanwhile, accusations of a Welsh conspiracy begin to fly in our earshot. C'mon Tom, the card said Radiohead didn't it.

21:41 Fearne promises us a performance to go down in Brits history. We decide to reserve judgment before following Sarah Harding's lead and wetting ourselves. After all, we saw what U2 had to offer.

One of our commenters thinks Nicola drew the short straw on the Girls Aloud dresses front. Anyone in agreement?

21:45 James Corden is on the adverts now too. Leave us alone man!

21:46 Fifth dress for Kylie. Matthew Horne still hasn't managed to escape that suit though. It could be worse, he could have got Brandon Flowers' jacket.

21:47 The RSPB has issued a search warrant for a missing owl. Witnesses say it was last seen on the shoulders of an American man near Earls Court.

21:48 The Pet Shop Boys appear to have borrowed the set from BBC One's Hole in the Wall. We expect Dale Winton on stage any second now. Suddenly no-one's laughing at Brandon's jacket any more.

You can see all the triumphant acts in our winners' gallery here.

21:50 Fearne Cotton lied. Outstanding contribution to music maybe, we're not sure their contribution to the Brits' deserves the same adjective.

21:54 Lady Gaga's cameo didn't last long. Oh God, Brandon's back with the owls...

22:00 And that's all folks. Hope you enjoyed the show. Duffy was the night's big winner with three awards, while Kings of Leon picked up two.

Not much controversy unfortunately, unless you count Sarah Harding's lack of bladder (or mouth) control and Brandon's owls.

For a full rundown of all the winners click here.

Thanks to all those who left comments. Feel free to keep adding your views on the Brits 2009 in the comments section below...