Emma Watson and JK Rowling with the Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema award received for the Harry Potter films

Emma Watson and JK Rowling with the Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema award received for the Harry Potter films




The Harry Potter films have received a special Bafta award for Outstanding Contribution to Cinema.
A tribute film, with contributions from stars including Daniel Radcliffe, Julie Walters, Emma Watson and Robbie Coltrane, was played before the author of the books, J K Rowling, came on stage to accept the award with members of the cast and crew including producer David Heyman.
She said: "It's very strange to look back after seven films and remember how wary I was of anyone putting Harry on the big screen and it was David, Heyman not Warner, who persuaded me.
Another recipient of a special gong was Sir Christopher Lee, who received a standing ovation as he accepted the Bafta Fellowship from filmmaker Tim Burton, who described the 88-year-old as an "electrifying screen presence".
Lee, famous for his roles in dozens of horror films and the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, thanked his "fellow thespians" and the Bafta committee.
He said: "This is a truly great honour, a great, great honour. Two things really make it so, the fact that this was voted to me by my peers and secondly that I received it from one of the great directors of our age."
Tom Hardy, who starred in Inception and Bronson, was awarded the Orange Wednesdays Rising Star prize, which is the only gong voted for by film fans.