Queen's honours for acting pair

James' first TV role was in The Sweeney

Band of Gold actress Geraldine James and Bertie Wooster star Ian Carmichael have received OBEs from the Queen.

James, 53, who starred in colonial drama The Jewel in the Crown, said: "I was shaking like a leaf. I don't know why. It's so exciting."

Carmichael, 83, famous for his TV role of the PG Wodehouse character, said he was sure Wooster would have approved.

But he said: "To be honest, I couldn't hear a thing. I'm a bit deaf. It's nothing to do with (the Queen)."

Carmichael was a leading man in 1960s British films

The actor added: "I just smiled graciously. She said something about a long time ago, so I just said, 'Yes, a long time ago'."

A leading man of British movies in the 1950s and 1960s, including School For Scoundrels and Private's Progress, he also starred as detective Lord Peter Wimsey.

He recently came out of retirement to play the part of a hospital administrator in TV drama The Royal.

Carmichael was accompanied by wife Kate Fenton and daughters Lee West and Sally Hennen.

Geraldine James was joined by her actor husband Jo Blatchley, a director at Rada, and their daughter Eleanor, 18.

James' first TV role was in the 1970s when she played Dennis Waterman's girlfriend in an episode of police drama The Sweeney.

James said: "The Queen amazingly remembered me. I met her at the Women at War exhibition recently.

"She said, 'Did you get a chance to look at the exhibition?' She was very relaxed."