EVENT UPDATE : MY DUCHESS BAFTA SCREENING / Q&A .. BAFTA PICCADILLY / THE SOHO HOTEL LONDON.. NOVEMBER 9TH 2026 ..

 

To herald the release of My Duchess in January 2027, Bafta members were treated to a sneak preview of Joan's new film at Bafta Piccadilly with a Q&A at The Soho Theatre. Author and
documentary film maker Kate Muir attended the exclusive event and here is her report..

I’m back! I’ve been in book-jail, writing away for weeks. Now I’m out and I have seen the glorious spectacle of Joan Collins in My Duchess. That’s her above, playing Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor and wife of the former King Edward VIII, in her final years in exile in Paris.

In an orgasm of camp, extreme fashion, humongous jewels and Polyfilla make-up, the drama channels Hollywood bitch-power classics like Whatever Happened to Baby Jane and All About Eve. My Duchess is a scream, and it’s also terribly sad and moving. Collins carries the late-life Wallis like the part she was always destined for. Grandeur oozes from her Lancômed pores. My Duchess isn’t out until early next year, but I went to a sneak BAFTA preview, andLa Collins herself arrived in a slick black trouser suit and high-heeled boots for the Q&A afterwards at the Soho Hotel. We broke into a standing ovation. Her Q&A was funny and razor sharp.

Joan & Percy at Soho Hotel with film director Margy Kinmonth

Afterwards, my friend Margy Kinmonth (director of the recent War Paint: Women at War documentary) talked to Joan and her husband Percy Gibson, while I took the paparazzi role. Margy and I have long been involved in campaigning to increase the representation of women in the film business, and just seeing a movie (written by Louise Fennell) with two such awesome roles for women-in-their-prime filled us with hope, as did the cameo from Miranda Richardson. Collins fought for years to get the film made.

The film focusses on Wallis’s later years, after the Duke of Windsor had died, and somewhat glosses over the fact that the couple toured Nazi Germany in 1937. But as a portrait of growing old, and leaching celebrity kudos, My Duchess is astonishing, and Collins literally lets her grey hair down in some increasingly brave and bloody scenes. They don’t make ‘em like this any more.

Before I was a women’s health writer and campaigner, I was the chief film critic of The Times, and I really miss movie moments like this. But I’ve got a serious job to do here too, and I’ll keen on writing about the power of hormones. My new book Can I Avoid Alzheimer’s? - Why medicine failed women and how we can reclaim our brains has been hell to write - I’ve been pulling eight-hour days, seven days a week, and getting up in the middle of the night when an idea erupts. It’s the hardest book I’ve ever written, and it explains that Alzheimer’s is not just about genetics - metabolism and menopause play a huge role in risk. I’m excited about the fresh research I’ve done on the positive effect of body-identical Hormone Replacement Therapy on brain health, and the full story will be out from Simon and Schuster in May 2027.

In the meantime, it’s worth knowing that Joan Collins remains a big fan of HRT, and in 2023, she said in an interview that she had used HRT for 20 years. ‘Do think about hormone replacement therapy when the time comes,’ she advised women. ‘Did it work for me? Er, hellooo…’
Like I said, razor sharp.