Twenty-five years ago, the screenwriter and actor Colin Welland celebrated winning an Oscar for his script for Chariots of Fire by shouting that “The British are coming”. Sadly, it turned out to be a somewhat premature celebration. Of course, Brits have taken Oscars and other film awards over the subsequent quarter of a century, but often hopes have been in vain.

But not last Monday night, when, in Tinseltown, the tinsel really did glitter for British talent as the Golden Globes were announced. Record numbers of Brits took home prizes for films and television series. What should be noted is that the Globes are second in importance only to the Oscars for movies and the Emmys for television. They are also a useful indicator as to who will pick up nominations, and possibly prizes, later in the awards season.

Not surprisingly, pride of place went to Helen Mirren, who won best actress in a film drama for The Queen, and best actress in a television mini-series for Elizabeth I, the 2005 Channel 4 programme, which was screened in America last year. While virtually everybody had expected Mirren to triumph for her role as our current queen, her award for the Virgin Queen was less expected. She did, after all, beat herself in the category, as Jane Tennison in the final Prime Suspect.

Without wishing to take anything away from our record haul of nine awards out of 25, it has to be pointed out that all but two were for acting. Britain has long had a solid and prestigious reputation for acting, built on our stage schools and extensivetheatre industry. It was the route for Mirren (National Youth Theatre, then the RSC), for Bill Nighy, who won for his lead role in the television drama Gideon’s Daughter, and for Jeremy Irons, who won for his supporting role in Elizabeth I, as the Earl of Leicester. All three actors are also well past 50.

Having said that, the wins by Sacha Baron Cohen, for Borat, and by Hugh Laurie, for his lead in the American TV series House, owe more to another British tradition — of revue at Oxbridge, then television comedy. The only real surprise among the acting triumphs was Emily Blunt, for her supporting role in Gideon’s Daughter. Blunt starred in the 2004 British film My Summer of Love. In America, however, she was an unknown until she landed a role in the recent success The Devil Wears Prada.

Being big, or at least a known quantity, in America is a virtual must for picking up awards there. Mirren spends at least two-thirds of her time in LA, where she lives with her husband, the film director Taylor Hackford. Laurie now spends most of his time there, too. Irons is well known in the USA, while Nighy is even better recognised, thanks to Pirates of the Caribbean and, currently, his role on Broadway in David Hare’s latest, The Vertical Hour.

The non-acting awards went to Peter Morgan, for his screenplay for The Queen, and to Elizabeth I as best mini-series. Morgan, who at 43 has just had his own annus mirabilis, with his scripts for Frost/Nixon, Channel 4’s Longford and now the film The Last King of Scotland, will inevitably soon be flown out first class to Hollywood to earn well-deserved megabucks.

Mirren, meanwhile, is a near shoo-in to win an Oscar for The Queen, and a Bafta, too. It is doubly encouraging that a truly great British actress can win in her sixties. I would, though, urge a little caution in expecting as many British Oscar-winners, even if Welland’s clarion call was finally answered on Monday night.

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