Christian Bale nominated for Golden Globe after playing Birmingham racing icon Ken Miles in Le Mans 66

Olivia Colman, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Helena Bonham Carter are among the other British nominees ahead of the 77th Golden Globe Awards

Christian Bale has been nominated for a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Birmingham icon Ken Miles in Le Mans 66.

The Welsh actor, playing a Brit for the first time since The Prestige in the mid-00s, has been hailed for his performance in the film.

Olivia Colman, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Helena Bonham Carter are among the other British nominees ahead of the 77th Golden Globe Awards.

Colman was recognised for her portrayal of the Queen in Netflix's regal drama The Crown, while her co-star Bonham Carter received a nod in the supporting category.

Waller-Bridge is up for best performance by an actress in a TV comedy for Fleabag, while the show is also nominated for best comedy.

Killing Eve's Jodie Comer is nominated alongside Colman.

Kit Harington is nominated for best actor in a TV drama series for his turn in the final season of Game Of Thrones.

Dame Emma Thompson is nominated for best performance by an actress in a musical or comedy film for Late Night while Daniel Craig is up in the male category for Knives Out, where he will compete against Rocketman's Taron Egerton.

Bale and Jonathan Pryce are nominated for best performance by an actor in a drama film while Sir Anthony Hopkins is up for supporting actor in a film for The Two Popes.

He is up against Tom Hanks, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci and Brad Pitt.

"It was very nice to revel in British-ness," the 45-year-old Bale told the Press Association.

"Especially with a Brit who should be known to everybody but is not.

"He's this great unsung hero, so it was wonderful to be able introduce him to the world."

The film follows Miles, affectionately known by his American racing crew as Teddy Teabag for his love of British tea, as he embarks on the most difficult race in all of motorsport, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in 1966 in the Ford GT Mk II.

It also details his friendship with the driver-turned-car designer Carroll Shelby, played by Matt Damon, who was recruited by Ford to design a race car so powerful it could beat even Ferrari on the unforgiving French racetrack.

"I liked very much that Ken isn't that sort of manly man image," Bale says, earnestly.

"He was someone who was very slight and very colourful and exuberant.

"He wasn't a stoic silent man who gave nothing away at all, he was emotional and joyous and furious, whatever he was feeling, he felt it to the hilt at any given moment.

"So that was not only fun to play, but it also gives an opportunity to give the audience a feeling of what it's like to actually drive a machine at those kind of insane speeds."

Cynthia Erivo is nominated for best performance by an actress in a motion picture (drama) for Harriet and is up against Irish-American actress Saoirse Ronan for Little Women.

Charlize Theron is nominated for Bombshell, Renee Zellweger for Judy and Scarlett Johansson for Marriage Story.

In the film categories, Marriage Story leads the way in nominations on six, with The Irishman and Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood both on five.

The Golden Globes, overseen by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, recognise the best in TV and film each year.

The nominations were announced live at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills by presenters Dakota Fanning, Susan Kelechi Watson and Tim Allen.

The 77th annual Golden Globes, presented by British comedian Ricky Gervais, will take place on January 5.