Hollywood braces itself with Ricky Gervais at helm for Golden Globes

Eddie Redmayne, Idris Elba, Dame Helen Mirren and Kate Winslet are among the British actors hoping to take home a Golden Globe.

Redmayne, who last year won an Oscar, Bafta, Screen Actors Guild Award and Golden Globe for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory Of Everything, will be hoping for a second consecutive win in the best actor in a motion picture (drama) category.

He is nominated for his performance as transgender artist Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl and he will go head-to-head with 10-time nominee Leonardo DiCaprio, who received a nod for his gruelling turn in revenge saga The Revenant.

The ceremony will be hosted by Ricky Gervais, who is returning to the job for a fourth time. He has proved a controversial choice in the past because of his irreverent jokes about the famous faces in attendance at the ceremony and this year has promised to "bite the hand that feeds me".

He told Matt Lauer on the Today show: "I don't want that nauseating, back-slapping, 'aren't we all great?'"

Dame Helen is nominated for best supporting actress for her role as journalist Hedda Hopper in Trumbo and will compete against Winslet, who plays Joanna Hoffman in Steve Jobs.

Redmayne's co-star Alicia Vikander is nominated in the lead actress in a drama category, against Irish star Saoirse Ronan, for her moving turn as a homesick immigrant in Brooklyn, Brie Larson for her performance in abduction drama Room and Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, who are both nominated for their roles in Carol, an adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith novel.

Carol is also nominated for best motion picture (drama), alongside Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant, Room and Spotlight.

The Big Short, Joy, The Martian, Spy and Trainwreck will all compete for best motion picture (musical or comedy).

Dame Maggie Smith is nominated in the best actress in a comedy or musical category for her cantankerous role in The Lady In The Van while her Downton Abbey co-star Joanne Froggatt is nominated for best supporting actress in a series, limited series or TV movie for her role as Anna Bates in the period drama.

British actors Elba and Mark Rylance will both vie for the best supporting actor in a motion picture Golden Globe and the best actor in a limited series or TV movie.

Elba is nominated for his roles in Beasts Of No Nation and Luther respectively, while Rylance scored nods for his performances in Bridge Of Spies and the small screen adaptation of Wolf Hall.

Rylance's Wolf Hall co-star Damian Lewis, who played Henry VIII in the series, is also nominated in the best supporting actor category.

Wolf Hall also picked up a nomination for best limited series or TV movie and will compete against American Crime, American Horror Story: Hotel, Fargo and Flesh And Bone.

The Golden Globes will be handed out at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles at 5pm local time (1am Monday GMT).