Madonna is nervous about London Film Festival debut

Madonna admitted she was nervous as she brought her new film W.E. to the UK to be screened at the BFI London Film Festival.

The 53-year-old singer - who co-wrote and directed the film - greeted fans on the red carpet at the Empire in London's Leicester Square last night.

She has already shown the film at the Venice Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, but revealed she felt under pressure showing it in Britain.

Madonna revealed: "It's slightly nerve-wracking because it's about a British king, it's predominantly filmed in Britain, it's a British production, most of my actors are English and I know the British can be tough critics. But I hope they like it."

The film looks at the romance between Wallis Simpson (Andrea Riseborough) and Edward VIII (James D'Arcy), which led to the monarch's abdication, as well as a parallel modern-day romance.

Made In Dagenham star Riseborough and Secret Diary of a Call Girl's D'Arcy attended the BFI London Festival screening along with co-stars Laurence Fox and Richard Coyle.

The cast all agreed that Madonna was a very precise director who paid great attention to detail.

Riseborough, 29, said: "She was extraordinary, because she was very prepared and passionate about the piece and that's what excited me when I first met her."

D'Arcy revealed: "As a director Madonna is about as prepared a person I've ever worked with.

"Reams and reams of research she'd done. She gave me so many books and every single page was underlined, and if it wasn't underlined it was highlighted, and if it wasn't highlighted there was a post-it note on it."