If Dame is the highest honour that can be bestowed upon an actress then it's time they came up with something extra for Maggie Smith. Make her a double Dame if necessary, as her performance as The Lady in the Van warrants it. And though he declined the Order of the Knight in 1998, playwright Alan Bennett will always be a Sir to me. No one dances with the English language like Alan can or makes you laugh, think and cry within a single paragraph - and that happens a lot in Nicholas Hytner's film of the autobiographical play about the bumptious, bedraggled bag lady who lived on Alan's drive for 15 years.

Anyone who grew up in London's Camden Town as I did will remember Miss Shepherd's van which was an eyesore on an otherwise gentrified tree-lined avenue. But there was nothing middle-class about Yorkshire-bred Alan who magnanimously offered his forecourt, his ear and occasionally his lavatory to the loopy former nun and concert pianist.

For those who missed Dame Maggie in the play, this is the ultimate catch-up as you can be see the magic up close as she uses every fibre of her being to play the difficult old lady who lost her way in life. Having Alex Jennings expertly play two versions of Alan Bennett (the writer and the real man) is an inspired conceit that conveys the way writers talk to themselves and allows Alan to sharply observe himself. Miss Shepherd proved to be an inspiration for the author who credits his peculiar squatter with teaching him to "not just put yourself into what you write, but to find yourself there." It's a valuable lesson for all scribes in a film that I could wax lyrical about forever, but a thank-you will probably suffice.