Skyfall scoops double at Evening Standard British Film Awards

Record-breaking James Bond hit Skyfall was a double winner at a major British movie awards event last night.

The picture - which has become the UK's biggest ever box office hit - was named best film at the Evening Standard British Film Awards, while viewers voted it their blockbuster of the year.

Comedy actor Sacha Baron Cohen - whose outrageous characters have included Borat, Bruno and Ali G - took an honorary title, the editor's award, to celebrate his "extraordinary achievement".

Oscar nominee Daniel Day-Lewis missed out on the best actor award, despite huge acclaim for his lead role in Lincoln.

Instead the prize went to Toby Jones for the independent art house film Berberian Sound Studio, which sees him play a British sound designer in the homage to 1970s Italian horror.

Andrea Riseborough collected the best actress prize for her role as an IRA terrorist in Shadow Dancer. But journalist Tom Bradby missed out on winning best screenplay for his work in bringing his novel to the screen.

That award went to Malcolm Campbell for What Richard Did.

The drama, based on the novel Bad Day In Blackrock by Kevin Power, tells the story of 18-year-old Richard Karlsen, whose life is changed forever after a senseless act of violence.

The Peter Sellers award for comedy went to deranged road movie Sightseers, directed by Ben Wheatley.

The black comedy had jointly led the nominations with gang drama My Brother The Devil, with each having been put forward in three categories.

The latter film also saw success, winning the most promising newcomer award for its writer and director Sally El Hosaini. Its star, James Floyd, had also been nominated for the prize.

The ceremony, hosted by actor Stephen Mangan and formally known as the London Evening Standard British Film Awards, was being held at the London Film Museum on South Bank.

Other wins included best documentary for The Imposter, about a conman who manages to dupe a Texan family into believing he is their missing son.

Sarah Sands, editor of the London Evening Standard, said: "The London Evening Standard British Film Awards celebrate a sensational year for British film.

"Thanks in part to the extraordinary success of Skyfall - a truly big British movie, delivered with a panache Hollywood could envy - 2012 also highlighted the creativity, vision and talent of a new generation of British film-makers, actors and actresses."

PA