Dame Helen Mirren collects lifetime acting award

Dame Helen won an Oscar for her performance in The Queen

Dame Helen Mirren has collected a lifetime achievement award for her "outstanding and lasting" contribution to film and TV.

The Oscar-winning actress was awarded the prize at the Women In Film And Television Awards in London.

"We have great women working in this industry - let's celebrate them with this award," she said.

The 64-year-old is best known for playing straight-talking detective Jane Tennison in TV series Prime Suspect.

After collecting her award from veteran actor John Hurt, Dame Helen said that when she first started out in the industry "it was all men".

"If you were lucky there was one woman - that was it, and my God it's changed and that's fantastic," she said.

But she added: "It has not gone nearly far enough. 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."

Dame Helen joins previous winners Dame Judi Dench, Julie Walters and Dame Maggie Smith as recipients of the award.

Fish Tank star Katie Jarvis was also awarded the prize for best performance at the event, where 10 trophies are presented across categories including news and factual, new talent and creative originality.

Earlier this week, it was announced that Dame Helen was up for best female lead at the Independent Spirit Awards for her role in The Last Station about the death of writer Leo Tolstoy.

She will compete against Gwyneth Paltrow for Two Lovers, Gabourey Sidibe, for Precious, Maria Bello for Downloading Nancy and Nisreen Faour for Amreeka.