Pierce's St Patrick Premiere

Pierce Brosnan insisted the show would go on as he celebrated St Patrick's night at the premiere of his latest movie.

There had been fears the screening of Irish drama Evelyn would be cancelled in the face of looming war in the Gulf.

However, the James Bond star delighted fans in London's Leicester Square by pressing ahead.

He said: "There was a point where we thought we would cancel but it's very difficult to cancel an event like this.

"And on St Patrick's Day, we have to celebrate a movie that will touch people's hearts.

In the film - which he produced - he stars as Desmond Doyle, a single dad who has to win back his children in a real-life tug of love in 1950s Ireland.

His three youngsters are taken away from him and put in orphanages after his wife walks out on them.

Doyle then mounts a ground-breaking legal challenge to reunite his family.

He said the story struck a chord with him. "I'm Irish, I'm a father and there were emblems in it that had meaning to my life," he said.

"To go against the church and against the state, that was heroic."

Evelyn, Desmond's daughter, had written the synopsis that was turned into a film script.

Years later she received a call from Brosnan himself.

At the premiere, she said it was "wonderful" to have him play her dad.