Helen Mirren receives Lifetime Achievement honour

British actress Helen Mirren has been awarded with a lifetime achievement honour for her work. Mirren, 64, accepted the accolade in recognition of her "outstanding and lasting" acting contributions at the Women In Film And Television Awards in London on December 4.

Actor John Hurt presented the award, and Mirren dedicated it to her female peers. "We have great women working in this industry - let's celebrate them with this award," Contactmusic quoted her as saying.

The actress told the crowd she'd started out acting in an entirely male-dominated industry, and called for more women to take up jobs behind the scenes.

"Previously if you were lucky there was one woman - that was it, and my God it's changed and that's fantastic. (But) it has not gone nearly far enough," she stated.

"I want to see more women behind the camera. In my experience, there are not enough female cinematographers - I think that's one area we have to keep working on," she added.