Emma Thompson dedicates award to 'dearest' Alan Rickman

Emma Thompson has paid touching tribute to fellow actor, and dear friend, Alan Rickman.

Rickman's death was a great loss to British film and it was Thompson's own words, written in tribute for Newsweek, which truly brought home the impact of that loss. A friendship which saw the pair collaborate multiple times including Sense and Sensibility, Love Actually, and the Harry Potter series; leading Thompson to describe him as, "the ultimate ally. In life, art and politics."

On winning an Evening Standard British Film Award for Comedy, for her role in The Legend of Barney Thomson, Thompson once more paid tribute to her late collaborator and friend. Dedicating the prize to Rickman, she stated (via The Metro): "I'd like to commit this moment in time to dearest Alan Rickman who many of us are dearly missing tonight. It's so depressing but there it is, it does happen."

She also joked, in reference to her role as a chain-smoking 78-year-old; "I always predicted I would end up looking like my mother after a lifetime of Guinness, fish suppers and untipped Players. So thank you."

The ceremony saw Idris Elba win Best Actor for Beasts of No Nation, Dame Maggie Smith win Best Actress for Lady in the Van, and Brooklyn win Best Film.