Tom Hollander reveals he won’t open fan mail over fears he is Russian target

Actor Tom Hollander has revealed he refuses to open fan mail because he fears he is being targeted by Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

The White Lotus star, 55, made the revelation to BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg when she discussed his West End play Patriots, in which he stars as an enemy of the Russian president.

Tom said he fears his involvement in the “anti-Putin” play could lead him to be targeted by Putin or his supporters, who have previously attacked critics of the Eastern European regime.

Tom said, ‘What’s happened is that now that we’re at war, I’m more careful about opening a mail that comes from Russia’.

“We are clearly playing a piece that is broadly anti-Putin.”

Further on: ‘We’re not doing a sweet Chekhov play. we do something about living figures who are in conflict with the West. So it’s just another reason not to open everything that comes in the mail’.

He went on to describe the play, written by The Crown’s Peter Morgan, as a “morality story.”

Add: “They were all patriots, Putin is sincere, he is a moralist.

‘Berezovsky is a moralist in his own way, just like (Alexander) Litvinenko. All these characters we learn about, they all fight for the soul of Russia and they all felt they were doing the right thing and therein lies the tragedy.”

In the production, Tom plays the oligarch Boris Berezovsky who rose to fame with President Putin before dying under mysterious circumstances in London in 2013.

The play’s official synopsis reads: “With the dawn of a new Russia, there are winners and losers, and today’s patriot may soon become tomorrow’s traitor.”

“As a new generation of oligarchs fight to seize power, Patriots follows billionaire businessman Boris Berezovsky from the president’s inner circle to public enemy number one.”

It comes after Tom’s latest ITV drama was axed after just one season of it being revealed.

Based on Len Deighton’s famous 1962 novel, The Ipcress File also starred Joe Cole and Lucy Boynton from Peaky Blinders, which aired late last year.

And according TVZonedespite the channel wanting to make a second series, the cast’s busy schedules have forced producers to pull the plug.

The Cold War spy thriller followed Harry Palmer (played by Cole), a working-class British sergeant, who becomes a spy after a series of dodgy dealings to avoid military prison.

A spokesperson for the broadcaster said: “Unfortunately we have not been able to proceed with a second series of The Ipcress File.”

In the original 1965 film, Palmer was played by Sir Michael Caine, catapulting his career to new heights.

The spy film and subsequent sequels were a deliberately bleak alternative to the hugely successful James Bond films of the period.

In contrast to Bond’s privileged upbringing in a private school, Palmer lives and works in a “bleak” London, living in a room in Notting Hill.

Deighton went on to write several Harry Palmer thrillers – though the spy was never mentioned in the books – giving producers room for more series.

It comes amid reports that fellow ITV show This Morning could face the ax if show bosses are revealed to be ‘covering up’ Phillip Schofield’s affair with a younger male colleague.

The presenter, 61, quit ITV with immediate effect after admitting to cheating on wife Stephanie with the man, while admitting to cheating on his ITV staff and colleagues about his affair.

Phillip has now resigned from ITV and will not be presenting his last remaining TV appointment, the British Soap Awards, and has been dropped at YMU by his agents.

And while Phillip’s 40-year career is in tatters, This Morning is now said to be on the bandwagon too, as senior bosses of the program come under pressure to reveal what they knew about Phil’s affair with the young runner.

Patriots can be seen at The Noel Coward Theater in London until August 19