'There's not really anything like Dynasty any more

Actress Dame Joan Collins on the current crop of TV shows and taking to the stage for a one-off special celebrating a stellar career working with some of the greatest names in Hollywood

- SARAH MORTON

After eight decades in show business, Dame Joan Collins has every right to put her feet up and relax. “I’m very, very, very lazy,” says the 91-year-old, as she chats exclusively to OK! from her home in London. The legendary actress is filling us in on how she spent the summer – a chilled-out few months in the South of France.

“I’d get up whenever I wanted to get up, which is usually around eight, read the papers on my iPad, have breakfast with friends and family, whoever’s visiting, and then we’d swim, relax by the pool, read books and magazines, hang out and then go and have lunch,” she says.

It sounds idyllic. “Oh, it’s wonderful,” Joan agrees. “It’s a very sociable lifestyle. In the afternoon, depending on what the weather’s like, we’ll do various things. You know, we might go for a walk, we might go shopping, we might have a nap, and then in the evening, we’ll get together for dinner. It’s bliss.”

But, as we’ve come to expect from the great dame, she’s not one to rest on her laurels. And following her relaxing break, she’s now back to business in Blighty, where she’ll perform her new show, One Night Only, at the Adelphi Theatre in London on 22 October. With millions of fans across the world, icon status and huge demand to see the woman considered one of the last surviving actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Age – why just the one show?

“I simply decided I don’t want to tour any more,” she tells us. “I love the feeling of being on stage, the smell of the grease paint, the roar of the crowd. I love having contact with my fans. But I just can’t face all the driving, the going to a new hotel every night, it’s not my thing. At the Adelphi, it’s one show, but maybe I’ll do another later on.” She flashes that famous, megawatt smile. “It depends…”