Hugh loses his cool

It was the mostly hotly-anticipated film premiere of the year. But for one man, the night seemed a veritable feat of endurance.

Hugh Grant was clearly not impressed by the limelight at the Odeon, Leicester Square screening of the Bridget Jones sequel, The Edge Of Reason.

While co-stars Renée Zellweger and Colin Firth posed smiling for photographers, Grant revealed that his career is the least favourite thing in his life.

He said: "I have increasingly less enthusiasm. I've done very little over the past few years and to be honest I don't know what I'm going to do now."

Grant, who reprises his role as the caddish

Daniel Cleaver, confessed: "While I enjoyed being in the film, making it was pure purgatory."

The pressure of keeping his temper finally came to a head at the exclusive post-premiere party at Wapping's Tobacco Dock.

Grant, who had arrived at the Odeon separately from his girlfriend Jemima Khan, lashed out at a photographer who tried to take their picture at the party.

Looking increasingly uncomfortable as fans clamoured for his autograph, he finally hit out at the photographer, pushing his camera back into his face.

One onlooker said: "It came totally out of the blue. There were just a couple of invited photographers there taking pictures of all the stars but as soon as one tried to get Hugh with his arm around Jemima, he just went nuts.

"There was a scuffle and he shoved out. His PR people and security had to gather round to try to calm things down.

"In the end Hugh was forced to back down and he apologised, but it was very grudging. He agreed to pose after that but wasn't exactly happy."