Olivia Colman bans phones at the Claridge’s Christmas tree party

The battle of the Christmas trees has begun in earnest. Claridge’s enlisted Burberry to design its offering this year: a 16-footer covered in purple and yellow bows, foliage and thistles. Burberry’s director Daniel Lee said the look was inspired by “the beauty of the rugged British landscape”. Trees clearly pull a good crowd: the unveiling party was packed to the rafters with stars including Dame Joan Collins, actor turned faithful Celia Imrie, model Rosie Huntington Whiteley and singer Pink Pantheress. Midway through the evening, Olivia Colman materialised to give a surprise reading, but not before enforcing Berghain-style rules. “I know this isn’t going to be a popular opinion, but would you mind putting your phones down?” she told the crowd, who dutifully obliged. “Now we’ll feel Christmassy together,” Colman said with a beatific smile, before reading the lesser known ‘Twas the Night After Christmas, complete with a gruff Cockney accent for Santa Claus. (“We don’t know what he sounds like, he could sound like that,” she reasoned).