As Barbara Good in classic BBC sitcom The Good Life, Felicity Kendal tried to achieve domestic bliss in the London suburbs.
In real life, she is under siege from rising crime in Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan’s increasingly lawless capital.
I can reveal that the actress, 79, has witnessed three shocking mobile phone robberies in the space of just three days.
And with the determination which would make Barbara Good proud, she became a have-a-go hero during one of the attacks.
‘Crime was never like this before,’ says Felicity, who has lived in Chelsea since the 1960s. ‘The phone-snatching is appalling. I have never known anything like it. Within three days I saw three.’
Speaking to local news website The Chelsea Citizen, she says: ‘One day I was walking my dog Rufus and suddenly three bikes shot onto the pavement, smashed a car window, and someone screamed.
‘A woman was parked there and they had taken her phone, just like that. It was over in seconds. I was driving down Draycott Avenue the next day when I saw a young woman walking and suddenly a few bikes swarmed around her. It was like Spaghetti Junction. They grabbed her phone and they started to speed off.
‘Something in me snapped, so I banged the horn and yelled and one of the lads dropped the phone. The woman got it back.’
Despite disrupting the theft, Kendal, who opens next week in a revival of Indian Ink at Hampstead Theatre, rejects any suggestion of bravery. ‘It was just instinct,’ she insists. ‘I did nothing really. I wasn’t facing a knife. I just shouted. But these gangs are so brazen. They just think they will get away with it – and they’re not wrong. I saw another phone snatched the next day in Sloane Square, but there was nothing I could do.’
She is prepared to sell her beloved four-storey house, which has become too big to manage since her husband, Michael Rudman, died in 2023 and her son, Jake, moved out.
‘I’m happy to move on when the time is right,’ she says. ‘I have always loved living in Chelsea, so I can’t imagine being anywhere else.’
Felicity Kendal, 79, has witnessed three shocking mobile phone robberies in the space of just three days – and became a have-a-go hero during one of the attacks
Actor West’s all-too brief encounter with Sienna
Dominic West was thrilled when he was cast opposite Sienna Miller in the forthcoming legal thriller War. The actor, 56, was less delighted when he discovered that they would hardly spend any time together.
‘It’s great working with Sienna but, sadly, I don’t get to film many scenes with her because my character is getting divorced from her, so I never see her.’
Speaking at the Quintessentially Foundation’s Fayre of St James, in aid of the Firefly Project, West adds of Sienna, 43: ‘We filmed a nice scene together this week, which was very enjoyable, but we’re practically like two ships in a night, which is a shame. But I did a play with her a few years ago, so she’s an old friend.’
West, who starred in The Affair and played King Charles in The Crown, is pictured (above) between takes with SIenna filming War, which will be screened on Sky.
‘It’s great working with Sienna (pictured) but, sadly, I don’t get to film many scenes with her because my character is getting divorced from her, so I never see her,’ said Dominic West
Dominic West and Sienna Miller may be at war on screen in the forthcoming legal thriller War, but off set the pair were all smiles
Advent doesn’t begin until tomorrow but Katherine Ryan has already made her New Year’s resolution. ‘I’ve finished having children and I just want to get hot next year – like sexy hot,’ the comedienne tells me at the premiere of Tinsel Town in London’s Leicester Square. Katherine gave birth to her fourth child, a daughter called Holland, six weeks ago.
‘I want to see if I can have some physical autonomy again. Stop breast pumping. I would like some disposable income and a holiday.’
McCoy recalls Naga ‘trashing’ colleague
Naga Munchetty, who has been under official investigation by the BBC over alleged bullying, was ‘out of order’ in her treatment of a reporter, says a distinguished ex-colleague.
Former newsreader Simon McCoy berates Breakfast presenter Naga for ‘trashing’ the journalist’s work live on air.
Business reporter Hannah Miller was filming a live visit to an ice cream factory in Nantwich in 2022 when Naga told her that she didn’t like ‘ice cream or cold food’.
Now McCoy says: ‘The main thing we all thought was that Naga was out of order. She just trashed her own reporter’s work. She made her look uncomfortable, we were all feeling uncomfortable.’
Speaking on the Channel Five documentary The Most Embarrassing TV Moments, McCoy adds: ‘Sometimes, keep your thoughts to yourself and just allow people to get on with their jobs and try and make the best of it.’
Naga Munchetty (pictured), who has been under official investigation by the BBC over alleged bullying, was ‘out of order’ in her treatment of a reporter, says a distinguished ex-colleague
As a former junkie rock star in Love Actually, Bill Nighy appealed to children on TV, saying: ‘Don’t buy drugs. Become a pop star and they give you them for free.’ Now, the line’s come back to haunt him. ‘I was going through immigration to the United States at about 4am,’ he recalls.
‘There were three guys behind glass booths. One of them pointed at me and said: “Hey, kids, don’t buy drugs. Become a rock star. People give you them for free. Am I right? Am I right?” I was like: “Drugs? No, no, I don’t know drugs.”’
Isabel’s latest addition to Getty clan
The Getty dynasty has welcomed its newest member. I hear that London art gallery founder and singer Isabel Getty, 32, has given birth to her first child, a son, with her financier boyfriend Faris McKinnon, 40.
The great-granddaughter of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty – once the world’s richest man with an estimated fortune of $6billion – confirmed the news with a photo of the baby online, from snowy Novello in Italy. They have not disclosed his name.
Isabel’s cousin, socialite Ivy Getty, 30, comments: ‘I am so excited to meet him.’
Former Tatler cover star Isabel is the daughter of businessman Christopher Getty and film producer Pia Getty.
Isabel Getty, 32, the great-granddaughter of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty
Party time for Portman and wife Morgan
While Prince Harry continues to adjust to life in California with his wife Meghan, British aristocrat Justin Portman – son of the late 9th Viscount Portman whose family is worth £2billion – appears to be thoroughly enjoying antics across the pond with his American wife, Morgan Snyder.
Actress Morgan, 41, who like Meghan once had a small role in the US television drama series 90210, shared photos online of her and Justin, 56, letting loose at a fancy-dress party in Mexico this week. Morgan, who married Justin, the father of her two children, in 2019, wore a cowboy-themed black and gold studded bodysuit
Justin, who as the ex-husband of supermodel Natalia Vodianova is no stranger to high-octane fashion, sported a large, black, feathered headdress paired with sunglasses, a black blazer, and a graphic T-shirt featuring a colourful Pink Floyd print. Earlier he wore a shirt featuing giant spiders while Morgan went for a 1920s ‘flapper’ style.
Will Jade Goody’s Freddy make feathers fly wearing gran’s fur?
Freddy Brazier is clearly not worried about causing a stir.
The model, 21, risked a backlash from animal rights activists when he wore what appeared to be a fur stole to a party at Claridge’s this week to celebrate the unveiling of the Burberry–sponsored Christmas tree.
Jackiey Budden, mother of the late reality TV star Jade Goody
Now, the model declares that not only was it genuine fur, but it belongs to his grandmother who’s at the centre of his family’s poisonous feud.
‘It was real mink,’ he tells me. ‘It belongs to my nana and she’s had it for a long time.’
The pelt is the prized possession of Jackiey Budden, mother of the late reality TV star Jade Goody. Freddy’s father, Jeff, with whom he appeared on the BBC’s hit show Celebrity Race Across The World, has spent much of this year attempting to use legal action to prevent his younger son from seeing Jackiey.
‘Nothing my dad does will keep me away from seeing my nan,’ Freddy previously told the Daily Mail, explaining that she remained the closest person in his life to his late mother.
Borrowing her mink for a night in Mayfair may be his most public act of defiance yet.
The smart set’s talking about… A rather glorious Goodwood proposal
While the Duke of Richmond will host Goodwood’s events with his customary enthusiasm next year, there is one occasion he’s particularly looking forward to before the season gets under way.
I hear that his son, Eton-educated Lord William Gordon Lennox, 27, has got engaged to his financier girlfriend, Eleanor Lambert.
The wedding is expected to be held in the spring at the family’s 11,000-acre estate in West Sussex. His fiancee can ride but declined to take part in Goodwood’s all-women amateur Magnolia Cup race because she was so nervous about a sharp corner at the finish.
First, Prince Andrew ‘stepped back’ from all public engagements. Then he agreed not to use his titles and honours, before King Charles publicly stripped them from him in a humiliating public statement. Now he has suffered yet another indignity: he’s been denied even the honorific ‘Mr’ on the official royal website.
On its page listing the line of succession, it says ‘Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’ is eighth in line to the throne. By contrast, Princess Anne’s son is listed in 19th place as ‘Mr Peter Phillips’. Others given titles include Andrew’s grandsons, ‘Master August Brooksbank’ and ‘Master Ernest Brooksbank’ in 13th and 14th place. One of Andrew’s remaining friends tells me: ‘It seems rather petty.’
Queen’s support after Hunt family tragedy
Queen Camilla has had many difficult conversations since she started campaigning against sexual and domestic violence, but none will have been more harrowing than the one at Clarence House on Thursday.
Her Majesty invited BBC and Sky racing commentator John Hunt and his daughter Amy to discuss the creation of the Hunt Family Fund, to support charities and causes that help and inspire young women. Hunt’s wife Carol, 61, and their two other daughters, Louise, 25, and Hannah, 28, were murdered last year by Kyle Clifford after Louise ended her relationship with him, having told friends she was troubled by his ‘nasty temper’ .
Before Clifford was given a whole-life prison sentence, John said in his victim impact statement: ‘I hope women around the world will take Louise’s bravery as a shining beacon for their lives.
‘If you feel enough is enough, then it is.’
