A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens' 1843 classic in which the stingy Ebenezer Scrooge discovers the generous Christmas spirit, is the book parents most want to pass on to their children, according to a new poll.

The public flocked to see British films last year as UK box-office takings passed £1bn for the first time. The British Film Institute, publishing its 10th annual Statistical Yearbook yesterday, hailed 2011 as a year in which "British film thrived".

The Avengers movie has topped the American box office for the second week in a row, taking $1 billion in its first 19 days.

Acclaimed production to close less than eight weeks into its run

"Aha! Oho! Marks in the snow! Whose are these claw marks? Where do they go?"

The success of The King's Speech and The Inbetweeners has helped independent British films to a greater share of box office receipts than ever before.

I've always viewed the Oscars roughly the way I view Formula One: I'm quite interested in knowing the results, but the process by which they're produced is basically unwatchable. Over here, where things are still amateur enough that something is liable to go wrong – see Freddie Starr's recent inscrutable performance at the Comedy Awards – they're still reasonably entertaining.

Blockbuster movies part-filmed in the UK are expected to boost "location vacation" tourism in 2012. Castle Combe, in Wiltshire, prominent in Steven Spielberg's War Horse, and Layer Marney Tower near Colchester, used in The Woman in Black, are two locations hoping for a boom in visitors.

New Year Honours: Entertainment

Such is the frenzy of filming activity surrounding the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens that two of Hollywood's best-known actresses, Helena Bonham Carter and Gillian Anderson, find themselves in a battle of the bonnets as they both prepare to play the role of Miss Havisham in Great Expectations.

A reassuring tale of friendship and determination overcoming every obstacle, The King's Speech was the safe, conventional choice for Oscar voters.

Tom Hooper's determinedly feelgood period piece doesn't delve too much into that ghastly Hitler business, and doesn't address the fact that Winston Churchill was allegedly rather fonder of the abdicating Edward, than his brother, Albert ("Bertie" to his nearest), Duke of York.

Following is a compete list of winners at the 83rd annual Academy Awards in Hollywood.