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 attended the Central School of Speech and Drama. She applied and was accepted by the School, then based at the Royal Albert Hall, London, where she was a classmate of Vanessa Redgrave, graduating and being awarded four acting prizes, including the Gold Medal as Outstanding Student. In September 1957, she made her first professional stage appearance with the Old Vic Company, at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool, as Ophelia in "Hamlet". According to the reviewer for "London Evening Standard", Dench had "talent which will be shown to better advantage when she acquires some technique to go with it." Dench then