Joan Collins stings Cryer for £1,500

Joan Collins has refused to pay Barry Cryer the full fee for writing jokes for her one-woman show, it has been claimed.

The actress reportedly handed over only half the agreed £3,000 fee, claiming she only used half of his material.

Cryer - who has written from everyone from Morecambe and Wise to Kenny Everett ­ agreed to provide the gags when the 68-year-old star decided she wanted to do "An Audience With" show about her long career.

But when she performed a trial run at an after-dinner speech in Glasgow, she only used half the jokes, and ad-libbed the rest.

So the actress, worth around £2.5million, only paid half the fee.

Cryer told the Daily Mail: "She did a trial run, but then I didn't hear anything from her in a while, so I got in touch with her agent.

"He was then left in the embarrassing position of informing me that Joan didn't want me to get the full whack agreed because she hadn't used all my material and had ad-libbed instead.

"Stupidly I agreed. That was my fault. I should have demanded all my money, but I didn't want to make any fuss. She can think of her own jokes next time."

Cryer, 67, has decided not to take the matter any further. He said: "Joan is Joan and I actually think she could pull off this idea if she wanted to pursue it. But I, for one, won't be getting involved again."

Published: 22 Mar 2002