Ralph Fiennes' week took a turn for the better yesterday when the newly-dumped star of The Constant Gardener picked up a Best British Actor nod at the London Film Critics' Circle awards, while co-star Rachel Weisz triumphed in the female category.

The makers of the new Nicole Kidman movie, the Stepford Wives, have risked incurring the wrath of two of America’s most powerful women.

The British Queen has said a tearful farewell to her younger sister Princess Margaret, who has been cremated after a funeral service at Windsor.