Tom Hollander’s disastrous dinner date with Joan Collins

When Tom Hollander met Joan Collin on the set of The Clandestine Marriage the pair hit it off. In fact, they got on so well that Hollander attended the Dynasty star’s Christmas party alongside Conrad Black and William Hague, before receiving an invitation to stay with her in St Tropez.

However, as Hollander writes in this week’s edition of The Spectator, their friendship took a turn for the worse when the Rev actor called Collins to confirm a date. Collins was out at the time of the call so she rang Hollander back and left a voicemail for him.

‘The next day I got a long voice message on my mobile. ‘Hi darling, it’s Joan here. I’ve just arrived in London from LA where I’ve been shooting The Flintstones 2 and I’m absolutely exhausted, but Lance tells me you’re coming to dinner on Thursday so that’s fantastic, can’t wait to see you, darling. Byee…’

And then something terrible happened. Something that everyone fears happening, but that never actually happens, happened.