Joan Collins Says Her Sister Jackie Was Really Brave, Paul Hollywood Talks About Bake

Joan Collins says her sister Jackie was really brave, Paul Hollywood talks about Bake Off winner Nadia’s royal cake, Lily James and Richard Madden reveal what it’s like to work with Kenneth Branagh and DNCE performs live in the studio

On this week’s show, (22nd April) Graham welcomes actor and writer Dame Joan Collins, Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood, Cinderella co-stars Lily James and Richard Madden, and rock band DNCE.

Joan, talking about being made a Dame, which she describes as “Amazing,” says, “It was fantastic. It was the greatest day of my life. Really extraordinary because to receive it is a great honour and Prince Charles pinned it on me and said very nicely I thought, ‘It’s about time too!’ Then I had a wonderful party with all my friends – 120 of my closest friends! My sister, my brother, my friends and my children had all flown in and it was wonderful.”

Talking about her new book’s dedication to her late sister, and asked if she now understands why Jackie kept her illness a secret, Joan says, “Absolutely. She was very brave to do that. I think if you are a celebrity in Hollywood and there is even the slightest hint that there is something wrong, you will be hounded by the press. Jackie didn’t want that and she wanted to keep herself completely private. She was a very private person despite what she wrote.”

Adding, “While clearing her house my nieces have found some books Jackie wrote when she was 11 or 12 and I illustrated. They are good – all about teenagers in the 50s – they are really interesting and I think we might publish.”

Paul, talking about Bake Off winner Nadia and the cake she made for The Queen, says, “She texted me when she was asked to do it, saying, ‘You’ll not believe what’s happened.’ She was scared obviously but good on her.” Asked if he was surprise at pictures of the seemingly unfinished cake, he says, “I couldn’t comment because it’s all about the taste.”

Asked if when he was on tour things became a little wild, he says, “When I was on the road, people would start baking me cakes and about 10 venues in we had more than 300 cakes!” Talking about the sexual innuendo in the Bake Off series, he says, “I would be stuck in traffic and people would clock who I am and start shouting, ‘ Soggy bottom!’” And, recounting an encounter with an aggressive 6’5” Liverpuddlian who asked him why he thought he was hard, Paul says, “I said, ‘What part of judging fairy cakes makes me hard?’”

Revealing that early on in his TV career he sought to patent his distinctive surname, Paul says, “The lawyer in London sent out this letter saying what I wanted to do and a huge amount of people from California said that I couldn’t call myself Hollywood so my lawyer sent back letters saying, ‘Paul’s family name goes back 600 years and if you can prove Hollywood has been around before that he will back down otherwise he will sue you for using his name on a sign on the side of a mountain!’ They dropped everything!”

Lily, talking about her royal encounters, says, “I sang at The Queen’s 80th, I’ve shaken Prince Charles’s hand and then I met Prince William. Apparently Prince William is a Downton fan but you never know if he is just saying that to be terribly nice.”

Lily and Richard talk about being the star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet in Kenneth Branagh’s latest stage production. Asked by Joan if it is difficult to learn Shakespeare, Richard says, “Yes, but when you are working with Kenneth, who is amazing, encouraging and inspiring but runs a tight ship, we had to know our lines before day one of rehearsal.” Lily adds, “We did the whole play at the end of that first week.”

Asked if this version is true to Shakespeare’s original play, Richard says, “We cut out the boring bits!’ Lilly adds, “We power through it.” Asked about the unlikely casting of Derek Jacobi as Romeo’s best friend, Richard says, “I makes sense and just works.”

DNCE performs Cake By The Ocean live in the studio, before joining Graham for a chat.

And finally, Graham pulls the lever on more foolhardy audience members brave enough to sit in the Red Chair.

The Graham Norton Show, BBC One 22nd April 10.35pm

Pictures are available from PA

Notes to editors – all quotes in this release were said during the recording but won’t necessarily appear in the final show.

Next week (29th April) Graham’s guests include Paul Rudd, Martin Freeman, Seth Rogen and Birdy.

For further information please contact Mary Collins 07769 670516 or at [email protected]

22nd April 2016