Helen Mirren

''Don't call me 'ma'am' — I'm not the bloody Queen!'' So declared Helen Mirren's no-nonsense London detective Jane Tennison in November's series finale of TV's Prime Suspect. The irony, of course, is that the British actress has been heralded this year for playing not just one queen, but two. In the HBO miniseries Elizabeth I, Mirren essayed the 16th-century monarch with Emmy-winning excellence; months later, Stephen Frears' hit The Queen found her disappearing into the part of the U.K.'s current sovereign, Elizabeth II.

The ma'am line was Mirren's idea. ''It was in the first Prime Suspect [in 1992],'' says the 61-year-old, who received the title of Dame from Prince Charles in 2003. ''I thought it would be great to reprise it, especially having just played the Queen. It was my little in-joke.'' On stage at August's Emmys, Mirren let the world in on another one: that her biggest achievement was making it to the podium without falling ''ass over t--.'' Says Mirren, who won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie: ''A bit of you is going, 'Oh, I hope I win.' But a bit of you is going, 'Oh, I hope I don't win because I'm bound...to make a complete idiot of myself.'''

More evidence that 2006 is her annus mirabilis: The Queen's solid box office ($26 million and counting), and three Golden Globe nods — matching Jamie Foxx's 2004 record — for Suspect and both Queens. Plus, the London-based actress is a lock for an Oscar nomination for The Queen, and, very likely, her first win. But Mirren — who has twice been nominated (for 1994's The Madness of King George and 2001's Gosford Park) — does not wish to discuss her chances. ''Oh, we don't want to go down that road,'' she says, polite yet firm. ''You have to be sensible, and not get caught up in the speculation.'' Yes, ma'am. —Clark Collis