The musical which wowed both critics and film fans alike during the year was Tom Hooper's stunning film adaptation of the stage musical Les Miserables which won three Oscars. It included one for Anne Hathaway who stole the film with her gut-wrenching rendition of I Dreamed A Dream.

Top of the biopics was Ron Howard's riveting and nail-biting Rush which explores the merciless rivalry between racing drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda, played magnificently by Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl.

It was closely followed by Stephen Frears's heart-breaking Philomena, based on the true story of an elderly Catholic Irish woman (Judi Dench), who enlisted the help of a former BBC journalist (Steve Coogan) to find the son the nuns stole from her as a teenage girl.