Top Gun topped a poll of Tom Cruise’s best films, as the Hollywood star prepares for a UK film premiere this week and interview with Jonathan Ross.

Cruise will arrive on the red carpet in London on Wednesday for his movie Valkyrie, which tells the story of a plot to assassinate Hitler by his own Nazi generals.

The Hollywood star is also set to appear on Ross’s first Friday night BBC1 chat show since Ross’s three-month suspension for the prank calls he and Russell Brand made to Andrew Sachs.

The poll, conducted by Pearl & Dean, saw the 1980s action classic cruise to the top of the poll with one quarter of cinema-goers voting it as their favourite.

More than 3,000 people were polled at www.pearlanddean.com.

Top Gun features Cruise as Maverick, a daring student at the elite Top Gun Naval Flying School for fighter pilots.

Kathryn Jacob, chief executive of Pearl & Dean, said: “Top Gun is a cult classic film with long lasting appeal for many film fans.

“This poll shows Tom Cruise is a firm favourite with cinema-goers, even if that elusive Oscar has escaped him so far.”

Second place with 20% of the vote was the Oscar-winning Rain Main – a role which saw Cruise star alongside Dustin Hoffman.

Mission Impossible received 15% of votes.

(Source: The Press Association)