It might not actually dock its cinematic royal yacht on these shores until, er, January next year, but The King’s Speech will be arriving garlanded with six British Independent Film Awards, including acting wins for its leads and a screenplay statuette.
Tom Hooper’s film took home the main prize, Best British independent film, plus best actor for Colin Firth, best supporting actor for Geoffrey Rush, best supporting actress for Helena Bonham Carter (who also won the honorary Richard Harris Award) and best screenplay for David Seidler’s script.
The drama, which is tipped for possible Oscar success (particularly in Firth’s case) follows King George VI’s attempts to overcome his stuttering and public speaking nerves with the help of an unconventional speech therapist.
But the best director award went to more of a surprise – yet still very deserving – winner, with Monsters’ Gareth Edwards romping home with that one, and the film itself taking best achievement in production and best technical achievement for its amazing visual effects.
Carey Mulligan added another trophy to her cabinet, nabbing best actress for Never Let Me Go, her second in two years. And A** Prophet** took best foreign film.
The Raindance Award went to Son of Babylon, In Our Name co-star Joanne Froggatt was named most promising newcomer, **Enemies of the People **snagged best British documentary, Baby took best short and Clio Barnard won the Douglas Hickox Award for The Arbor.
Finally, Liam Neeson was honoured with the Variety Award, which is given to those who help focus the international spotlight on the UK. Someone attempted to take Neeson’s trophy from him, but he smashed them in the face with his elbow, drop kicked two others and jumped out of a nearby win… okay, we made the last bit up. But he definitely won the award.