Tea? One minute or two? Helen Mirren's microwave cuppa

The director of Dame Helen Mirren's latest film has revealed her tea-making is far from regal - after the Oscar-winner brewed up in a microwave.

Jason Winer undertook painstaking research on afternoon tea etiquette before meeting the star of The Queen to discuss his remake of the 1981 comedy Arthur, which also stars comedian Russell Brand.

But the young director's meticulous preparations proved to be in vain, as he was greeted at Dame Helen's residence with mismatched crockery and shop-bought tea bags.

"It was nerve-wracking, to say the least. My agent was actually freaking out, he was like, 'Have you ever had tea with a British person? There are rules. There is all sorts of
etiquette'," Winer told US website Collider.

"He forwarded me a link to a tea etiquette website, where I learned silly things like you're supposed to stir the tea back and forth with the spoon, and not in a circle."

Winer - who also counts the hit TV show Modern Family among his directing credits - said the meeting was much less refined than he expected.

"When I got to her house, not only did she immediately profess to be a big fan of Modern Family, which put me at ease, she also made us tea in mismatching mugs, with Lipton tea bags and water heated up from the microwave."

He added: "That's Helen, in a nutshell. She's regal on the surface, and thoroughly and incredibly charming, but also tremendously down-to-earth with an irreverent streak that not a lot of people know about."

Dame Helen plays the nanny of Brand's playboy character Arthur in the film, which is due for release in the UK on April 22.

The original comedy starred Dudley Moore and won co-star Sir John Gielgud an Oscar for best supporting actor.