Stars of big screen take to red carpet for awards extravaganza

Duff, who plays John Lennon's spirited mother Julia in the biopic Nowhere Boy, beat Oscar hopeful Carey Mulligan among others to be named best actress at the London Evening Standard British Film Awards.

Serkis's embodiment of singer Ian Dury in warts-and-all film Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll won him the best actor gong, beating Tom Hardy for Bronson, Christian McKay for Me & Orson Welles and Alex MacQueen for The Hide.

Mulligan was nominated as best actress for An Education, based on the memoirs of journalist Lynn Barber, while Kelly Macdonald was also in the running for playing a lonely fugitive in Michael Keaton's directorial debut The Merry Gentleman.

Sacha Baron Cohen's latest alter-ego, the flamboyant Austrian fashion reporter Bruno, secured him the Peter Sellers award for comedy – an award he also won in 2006 for Borat.

Veteran film director and cinematographer Nicolas Roeg received the Alexander Walker special award for his contribution to film from Jenny Agutter, star of his film Walkabout. With a career spanning more than 60 years, Roeg is behind film classics including Far From the Madding Crowd and Don't Look Now.