Olivia Colman has confirmed her status as national treasure thanks to her Oscar win for The Favourite – and endlessly endearing acceptance speech – but her journey to Hollywood deity began in an iconic AA advert almost 15 years ago.

Fans of the actor have been reminiscing about her star turn as Bev in the famous AA “Bev-Kev” advert, which was first shown in 2004.

In the ad, Colman can be seen with her screen partner Kev – Mark Burdis from Grange Hill – pulling up in a pristine car alongside their former selves in an old banger.

The pair stare at each other, calling out “Bev” and “Kev”, with the scruffier versions unable to believe their alter egos have been able to afford such an expensive vehicle (all thanks to AA insurance, new Bev and Kev explain).

The popular AA commercial may have further pushed her into the public consciousness but Ms Colman, who was just starting her stint on the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show when the advert appeared, said earlier this year that it almost ruined her fledgling career.

Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Show all 21 1 /21 Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Actor Rami Malek accepts the Actor in a Leading Role award for 'Bohemian Rhapsody' onstage during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on February 24, 2019 in Hollywood, California Getty Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Actress Olivia Colman accepts the Actress in a Leading Role award for 'The Favourite' onstage during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on February 24, 2019 in Hollywood, California Getty Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Film Oscars Show - Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S., February 24, 2019. Peter Farrelly accepts the Best Picture award for "Green Book." Reuters Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Director, Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography Best Director, Best Foreign Language Film, and Best Cinematography winner for "Roma" Alfonso Cuaron poses in the press room with his Oscars during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on February 24, 2019 AFP/Getty Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Original Screenplay Best Original Screenplay nominees for "Green Book" Nick Vallelonga (R), Brian Currie (L), Peter Farrelly (C)accept the award for Best Original Screenplay for during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California AFP/Getty Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Actress in a Supporting Role Regina King with her best supporting actress Oscar for If Beale Street Could Talk in the press room at the 91st Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, USA PA Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Actor in a Supporting Role Best Actor in a Supporting Role winner Mahershala Ali poses backstage during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre on February 24, 2019 in Hollywood, California AMPAS/Getty Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Original Score Best Original Score nominee for "Black Panther" composer Ludwig Goransson accepts the award for Best Original Score during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on February 24, 2019 AFP/Getty Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Original Song Lady Gaga poses with the Music (Original Song) award for 'Shallow' from 'A Star Is Born' backstage during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre on February 24, 2019 in Hollywood, California AMPAS/Getty Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Adapted Screenplay Spike Lee, David Rabinowitz , Kevin Willmott and Charlie Wachtel accept the Best Adapted Screenplay award for "BlacKkKlansman" onstage during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on February 24, 2019 in Hollywood, California Getty Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Live Action Short Guy Nattiv (L) and Jaime Ray Newman winners of the Short Film (Live Action) Award for 'Skin' pose in the press room during the 91st annual Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, USA, 24 February 2019 ETIENNE LAURENT EPA Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Visual Effects Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, J. D. Schwalm and Tristan Myles accept the Best Visual Effects award for "First Man" onstage during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on February 24, 2019 in Hollywood, California. Getty Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Documentary Short Melissa Berton (center L) and Rayka Zehtabchi (center R) accept the Documentary (Short Subject) award for 'Period. End of Sentence.' onstage during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on February 24, 2019 in Hollywood, California. 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“AA! That has become the bane of my life. I thought they were going to run that for about a week but they ran it for what felt like four times a day for a year,” she told her Broadchurch co-star David Tennant on his podcast in January.

“They ran it for a year having just given me a buy-out, it was really annoying. I lost some jobs,” she said.

After winning plaudits for her regular role on Peep Show, Ms Colman subsequently starred in Green Wing, Rev, Hot Fuzz, The Iron Lady, and The Night Manager before her Oscar-winning performance in Queen Anne drama The Favourite.

Many of her friends and co-stars down the years were quick to join in with the celebrations after her Oscar success.

Her Peep Show colleague David Mitchell tweeted about her “brilliant speech”, while Edgar Wright, who directed Colman on the film Hot Fuzz, tweeted that he was “so, so happy” for the actor, posting a photo of the Oscar-winner starring in the 2007 film, captioning the post: “Colman takes out the competish.”