National Film Awards UK nominees or films must be based in the country of origin except the Best Foreign Film category. 2016, the mobile network O2 (UK) sponsored the awards During the ceremony, National Film Awards UK pauses to pay tribute to those in the industry who died over the previous twelve months, with a montage of images accompanied by music. In 2016 the legendary late actor Alan Rickman was honored. In 2015 Dame Judi Dench was voted by academy members to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award whilst the 2016 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award was Dame Helen Mirren David Jason and Nicholas
Judi Dench Also in 2017, Dench reprised the role of Queen Victoria when she headlined Stephen Frears's "Victoria & Abdul". The biographical comedy-drama depicts the real-life relationship between the monarch and her Indian Muslim servant Abdul Karim, played by opposite Ali Fazal. While the film was met with lukewarm reviews for its "imbalanced narrative", Dench earned specific praise for her performance, earning the actress her 12th Golden Globe nomination. Dench's last film that year was Kenneth Branagh's "Murder on the Orient Express", based on the 1934 novel of the same name by Agatha Christie. The mystery–drama ensemble film follows world-renowned detective Hercule