Very busy and important: lifesize Bridget Jones statue unveiled in London

Bridget Jones, Britain’s best-loved and most hapless romcom heroine, stands in a creased miniskirt and gaping cardie in the centre of London, clutching her diary and a pen.

- Catherine Shoard

Alcohol units: 0; cigarettes: 0; calories: 0; weight: 31 stone - and, according to the actor Sally Phillips, “no intention of losing any of it”.

Phillips, who played a friend to Bridget Jones in the four films, was in Leicester Square yesterday morning to unveil a lifesize bronze of the comedy character. She was joined by Helen Fielding, who first cooked up the character in a newspaper column 30 years ago and whose novels have now been translated into more than 40 languages, and Renée Zellweger, the star of the movies (with a combined box office of $900m (£683m).

The statue joins the likes of Paddington, Harry Potter and Charlie Chaplin as part of Westminster council’s Scenes in the Square scheme to further cement the location’s credentials as a cinema hub. The area is home to four multiplexes and the setting of most of London’s premieres.