DANNY Boyle, director of the Scottish film hit Shallow Grave, has been named British newcomer of the year in the 1995 ALFS, the Critics Circle Film Awards presented at an all-star party in London last night.

Since making Shallow Grave, last year's most successful British film, Boyle has directed the critically praised Trainspotting, also made in Scotland, which shows signs of repeating that success.

Hollywood star Nicole Kidman was named actress of the year for her performance as the homicidal weather girl in To Die For, a performance unaccountably overlooked in the Oscar nominations, and Johnny Depp was named actor of the year for his performance as the world's worst film director in Ed Wood.

Miss Kidman was among the stars at last night's awards held at the Savoy Hotel in aid of the NSPCC but Mr Depp, unable to attend, sent supermodels Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to receive his trophy.

Film of the year was Babe, the Australian-made tale of the pig which thought it was a sheepdog - and Babe turned up, or rather the animatronic pig which played him made its first public appearance.

The awards are in two sections, one for British films, the other for international productions.

In the British Awards category, The Madness of King George was film of the year. It was presented to the director, Nicholas Hytner, by myself because the ALFS differ from the usual film awards in that they are presented by the critics who did the voting, not by showbusiness celebrities.

Hytner's film also won the actor of the year award for its star, Nigel Hawthorn; screenwriter of the year award for Alan Bennett; and the best technical achievement award for its designer, Ken Adam.

British actress of the year was Kate Winslet, who has been nominated for an Oscar for her role in Sense and Sensibility, as a murderous teenager in the New Zealand film, Heavenly Creatures.

British director of the year was Michael Radford for the film which won the Foreign Language Film of the Year Award, Il Postino. It was an Italian production starring the late Massimo Troisi but the director, who spent a considerable part of his early career working in Scotland, is British, hence the cross national boundaries awards.

Director of the year was Peter Jackson for Heavenly Creatures and screenwriter of the year Paul Atansio for Robert Redford's Quiz Show.

There were two special awards. Veteran producer Peter Rogers, who made the Carry On films, received one for ``carrying on'' and the lifetime award, given in memory of the film critic Dilys Powell, went to Dame Wendy Hiller.

The ALFS, the British equivalent of the American Golden Globe and New York Critics' Circle award, are given by the leading critics on Britain's national newspapers and magazines.