If the end of the world really is nigh, the British public have declared who they want to save them: Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver.

The two actors were picked as the Hollywood action heroes best placed to save humanity from the brink of disaster in an online poll of 2,000 Brits.

More than one in four respondents put their faith in Willis, who played Harry Stamper in Armageddon, and Weaver, who was Ellen Ripley in Aliens.

The survey, carried out by OnePoll for online movie provider blinkbox, revealed that 57% of people were aware of the Mayan prophecy of the apocalypse and 13% confessed to being worried.