Christian Bale arrested following London Batman film premiere

All may have seemed well as the cast of The Dark Knight, the new Batman movie, tripped down the red carpet to attend the film's London premiere on Monday night. However, the man who plays the caped crusader, Christian Bale (pictured with wife Sibi), had other matters on his mind. Today he was arrested by London police over an alleged assault which is said to have taken place in the suite of his London hotel, the Dorchester, Park Lane, on Sunday following complaints made by his mother and sister.

His mother, Jenny, 61, and sister, Sharon, 41, who live in Dorset, made the assault allegation against Bale, 34, at a police station in Hampshire on Monday. The matter was referred to the Metropolitan Police, who held off questioning him until today, so as not spoil the premiere. Bale spent several hours in custody at Belgravia police station.

Meanwhile, not everyone thinks that the late Heath Ledger should win a posthumous Oscar for his role as the Joker in the film (Michael Caine is one who has said he should). Jonathan Ross, who presents the BBC's Film 2008 review, says that neither Ledger nor the British director Christopher Nolan’s film lives up to the hype the studio, Warner Brothers, have whipped up around it.

"It has some good bits, but long periods are boring - it's all a bit gloomy and self-serious," he said, claiming that Ledger performed better as a homosexual cowboy in the 2005 film Brokeback Mountain, for which he narrowly missed out on an Oscar. "It’s nothing compared to his performance in Brokeback Mountain. I'm sure, sadly, if the guy hadn’t died tragically young, they wouldn't be making all this fuss over it."