Louis Theroux Interviews Joan Collins review: Louis’s flattery gets Dame Joan to tell him her darkest secrets, writes ROLAND WHITE

Louis Theroux Interviews Joan Collins

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It wasn’t perhaps the toughest question ever posed in a celebrity interview. ‘Can I start by saying what a privilege it is to be sitting across from you?’ said Louis Theroux, sharing a sofa with Hollywood icon Joan Collins.

All things considered, Dame Joan thought he probably could say that.

‘You are a legend,’ he continued on Louis Theroux Interviews Joan Collins (BBC2). ‘You are accomplished in so many ways.’

Louis flirted and deployed flattery in industrial quantities, but it’s a style that gets results. She spoke about being raped by her first husband, the actor Maxwell Reed, who gave her a drink and a book of saucy etchings on an early date while he went for a shower.

The next thing she knew, she woke up and ‘he’d had his way with me’. She was 18. He was 32.

Dame Joan spoke about being raped by her first husband, the actor Maxwell Reed, who gave her a drink and a book of saucy etchings on an early date while he went for a shower

Louis flirted and deployed flattery in industrial quantities, but it’s a style that gets results

Louis even got Dame Joan to admit on air that friends of her own age were boring

She also remembered being propositioned in a corridor by a studio boss who stank of cigar smoke and kept a solid gold model of his, er, manhood on his desk. He didn’t get lucky that day.

Louis even got her to admit on air that friends of her own age were boring. Joan is 90, but not so you would notice.

We know Louis’s schtick. He is ruthlessly well mannered, kindly and amusing. If your daughter brought him home, you’d break open the champagne. But he hits the target every time.

Celebs relax in his company, and say things they might later regret.

There was really only one question that Joan batted away. What did she think of Donald Trump? ‘I’m an actress,’ she said. ‘I don’t think I should start spouting political opinions.’

Oh, if only more showbiz folk took that view. She deserves her damehood for that alone.

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