Golden Globes: British Stars Fight For Awards

British actresses lead the challenge for honours at the Golden Globes in Los Angeles.

Dame Helen Mirren is nominated for Best Actress in a Drama for her performance in Hitchcock, while British-Australian Naomi Watts is a contender for The Impossible and Rachel Weisz is shortlisted for The Deep Blue Sea.

The Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy category sees Quartet star Dame Maggie Smith up against Emily Blunt, for Salmon Fishing In The Yemen, and Dame Judi Dench, for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

The Golden Globes are the first big event of awards season and are seen as an indicator for possible winners at the Oscars, which takes place next month.

Other British contenders include Daniel Day-Lewis, for his portrayal of US President Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, which is also up for Best Motion Picture (Drama).

Spielberg's political drama is nominated in seven categories, ahead of Ben Affleck's Argo and Quentin Tarantino's spaghetti western tribute Django Unchained, which both have five nods.

Spielberg's film won a major boost this week, when it topped the nominations for the Academy Awards, shortlisted in 12 Oscar categories.

Up against Day-Lewis for Best Actor is Denzel Washington for Flight, Richard Gere for Arbitrage, John Hawkes for The Sessions and Joaquin Phoenix for The Master.

The Best Actress in a Drama shortlist is completed by Jessica Chastain, for her role as a CIA agent relentlessly tracking Osama bin Laden in Zero Dark Thirty and also Marion Cotillard in Rust And Bone.

Film critic Jason Solomons told Sky News that Lincoln is the film to beat at the awards, although he is not a big fan.

"It shows us the sacrifices that were made in abolishing slavery but I felt it was a bit like a wet Tuesday afternoon history lesson," he said.

He added that the record-breaking latest instalment in the James Bond series is the one notable omission from the shortlist, saying: "I do think that Skyfall has been very unlucky to miss out in the major categories at the Globes and also at the Oscars."

The Golden Globes split movies into different categories for the awards.

Les Miserables, which is tipped by some to win Best Picture at the Oscars, is listed in the Best Motion Picture Comedy or Musical section - and will compete against British-made film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

The Globes also hands out TV awards, with a number of British stars in contention.

Homeland's Damian Lewis is shortlisted for Best Actor in a TV Drama, while the show itself is up for the main TV Drama award and will compete against Downton Abbey.

Downton star Dame Maggie is also nominated for her portrayal of the over-bearing Dowager in the period drama.

US TV comedy stars Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will co-host the Globes after three years of edgy jokes from Ricky Gervais, who was renowned for taking barbed shots at A-listers.