Helen Mirren goes head-to-head with Billie Piper at The Evening Standard Theatre Awards

Helen Mirren and Billie Piper are both up for the Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress at tonight's Evening Standard Theatre Awards.

Helen, who has already won an Oscar for playing the Queen, competes for her role as the monarch in The Audience.

Billie, shortlisted before in 2007, makes the final five this year for her role in The Effect, as a troubled young woman participating in a clinical drugs trial.

Kristin Scott Thomas, Lesley Manville and Linda Bassett are also up for the gong.

Damien Lewis will host the event at the Savoy Hotel tonight.