Globes Shock As Serious Big Hitters Lose Out

The list of British nominees for the Golden Globes read like a Who's Who of UK showbiz.

Dench, Mirren, Thompson, Winslet, Bale, Ejiofor, Elba, Bonham-Carter, they were all up for statuettes at the Beverly Hilton.

Yet, in the end, the only individual British winner was one who few might have predicted.

As a stunned Jacqueline Bisset herself told the audience, it was 47 years ago that Hollywood recognised her as a promising newcomer.

A career of hits and misses, and several Golden Globe nominations that came to nothing, brought her finally to a well-deserved, if shocking, win for the BBC's Dancing on the Edge.

If there were shocks in the results handed down by the 90 or so members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, it was that some serious big hitters didn’t win.

Chiwetel Ejiofor seemed a dead cert for his stunning performance in the powerful 12 Years A Slave. He lost out to the, admittedly exceptional, Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club.

Emma Thompson's superb P L Travers in Saving Mr Banks was hotly tipped to win. Instead, Cate Blanchett's brilliant performance in Blue Jasmine took the award.

The fantastic American Hustle DID pick up a handful of awards - including for best comedy or musical picture, for Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence - from the haul of most nominations.

The award of best drama picture to '12 Years' did salvage a night that was shaping up to be something of a snub for a film that is so important in the telling of the American story. How it didn’t win for best screenplay baffled many a critic.

The UK film industry can claim some of the glory for the award to London-based director Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity, a British production at Pinewood and Shepperton.

And some of the non-award highlights of the night did come from the other side of the pond: the real Philomena Lee appearing on stage and Emma Thompson, shoes and glass in hand, bringing a louche class to the event.

It was a reminder that, unlike the Oscars, the Globes put booze on the menu - more than one of those who appeared on stage had partaken.

Maybe because of this, Hollywood insiders always say the Globes are the most fun of all the awards show. Teleprompter problems and a flooded red carpet added to the jollity.

Still, the awards are what it is all about - and the Brits might feel a little miffed at the outcome.

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