Golden Globes glory for the Brits

Kate Winslet and Slumdog Millionaire combined to make it an extraordinary night for the Brits at the Golden Globes, winning all six of the awards they were nominated for, and making themselves firm favourites to take top honours at next month's Oscars.

The actress broke a long-running duck that has seen her unsuccessfully nominated for five Golden Globes and another five Oscars by winning a brace of prizes, including Best Actress in a Dramatic Film for her role alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in Revolutionary Road.

In an emotional and sometimes tearful pair of acceptance speeches, she told a star-studded audience at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles last night that "I have a habit of not winning things," before asking, in a highly theatrical fashion: "Is this really happening?"

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But it was the performance of Slumdog Millionaire that will steal the headlines, scooping four gongs, including the prestigious Best Drama Film award, together with Best Director for Danny Boyle.

The low-budget film, about a boy from the slums of Mumbai who wins the jackpot on the Indian version of 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?', continued a remarkable run of form that has seen it showered with awards in recent weeks, and propelled it relentlessly towards the summit of the box office charts.

Although it doesn't begin its full release for another week, Slumdog Millionaire has already made back more than twice its $15 million budget while being shown in a small handful of US cinemas.

Critically-acclaimed as a feel-good tale that traces the development of today's India, the film overcame substantial obstacles on its path to success. Its original distributor went out of business, and as recently as this summer it was scheduled to go straight to DVD.

Speaking at a party hosted by Bafta, Boyle – who was previously best known as the director of Trainspotting, and spent a year India working on the project – told The Independent that winning awards was one few ways that small film-makers could hope to compete on the global stage.

"It's very flattering, and great for what I like to call my bathroom ego, which is the ego no-one sees but me, when I look into the mirror," he said. "But what is really important is the platform it gives the film. It will benefit more than anyone could ever imagine. For serious, adult films that aren't studio tent poles, or blockbusters, winning Golden Globes is critical. It's what gives us a chance."

In total, a record ten of this year's 25 Golden Globe trophies will go back to the British Isles, including the Best Actress in a Comedy prize scooped by London-born Sally Hawkins, who upset the odds to beat Meryl Streep and Emma Thompson for her starring role in the Mike Leigh film Happy-Go-Lucky.

Tom Wilkinson was honoured for his role in John Adams, an HBO mini-series about America's second president which won a total of four awards in the TV category of the awards. Irish stars Gabriel Byrne and Colin Farrell also won their first Globes, for the TV show In Treatment and the film In Bruges respectively.

Tina Fey continued her virtual clean sweep of this year's TV comedy awards, landing three trophies for her TV show 30 Rock. The highly-rated Israeli title Waltz With Bashir was named Best Foreign Language film, while Wall-E took Best Animation.

The Golden Globes, which are voted for by the eighty-odd members of Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a private club of occasional freelance journalists, are often seen as a crucial barometer for February's Oscars.

Three of the films that were considered leading contenders for the Academy Awards, and which led the Globe field with five nominations each — The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Doubt and Frost/Nixon — were all completely shut out.

As expected, the late Heath Ledger lived up to 12/1 on favouritism to land the Best Supporting Actor Globe for his diabolical turn as the Joker in the Summer Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight.

But the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for Mickey Rourke won the Best Actor award for The Wrestler, for his portrayal of an ageing former wrestling star who gets a last shot at glory in the ring.

The plot of the film is said to mirror that of Rourke's life and career, which has been in the doldrums for the best part of the decade amid personal turmoil and struggles with drug and alcohol dependency.

"It's been a very long road back for me," said Rourke, who poured out his thanks to the film's director Darren Aronofsky. "I've said this before, in sports especially which I can relate to, really, truly great players come around every 30 years, and I really, truly believe Darren is one of those cats."

Here is a complete list of winners at the ceremony:

FILM:

Best Picture, Drama: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Picture, Musical or Comedy: Vicky Christina Barcelona
Best Actor, Drama: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Best Actress, Drama: Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road
Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Actor, Musical or Comedy: Colin Farrell, In Bruges
Best Actress, Musical or Comedy: Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Best Supporting Actress: Kate Winslet, The Reader
Best Foreign Language Film: Waltz With Bashir
Best Animated Film: Wall-E
Best Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Original Score: AR Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire
Best Original Song: The Wrestler (performed and written by Bruce Springsteen), The Wrestler

TELEVISION:

Best Series, Drama: Mad Men
Best Actor, Drama: Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment
Best Actress, Drama: Anna Paquin, True Blood
Best Series, Musical or Comedy: 30 Rock
Best Actor, Musical or Comedy: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Best Actress, Musical or Comedy: Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Best Miniseries or Movie: John Adams
Best Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Laura Linney, John Adams
Best Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Paul Giammatti, John Adams
Best Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Laura Dern, Recount
Best Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Tom Wilkinson, John Adams
Cecil B DeMille Award: Steven Spielberg.