Joan Collins still out of action at Birmingham panto

Joan Collins has missed a third day of pantomime performances in Birmingham due to illness, with it unclear whether she would take to the stage today.

The Hollywood star has now missed six performances of Dick Whittington at Birmingham Hippodrome this week after being struck down with flu.

Performances are still going ahead as scheduled with Birmingham-born understudy Wayne Fitzsimmons taking over the role of Queen Rat.

Joan missed performances on Tuesday, Wednesday and yesterday and dropped out of both her matinee and evening performances on December 22.

Jonathan Kiley, director of Qdos Pantomimes which has produced the show, said: "Our Queen Rat, Joan Collins has not escaped the colds and flu sweeping Pantoland. We wish her well and hope for a speedy recovery."

Rob Macpherson, marketing director at Birmingham Hippodrome, said customers had been flocking to see the show and he had not received any complaints. He also denied performances had been finishing earlier due to Joan's absence.

Mr Macpherson said: "We haven't issued any refunds. If artists aren't available from illness then as long as the show goes ahead people wouldn't get a refund - people are buying the tickets for the show.

"I haven't heard anybody say they were disappointed with the performance.

"Of course we are really, really sorry for the inconvenience and we are most keen that Joan should make a rapid recovery and we are hoping that she should be on stage very soon."

Collins, aged 77, is part of a star-studded line-up appearing in the pantomime, appearing alongside Nigel Havers and Julian Clary.

Audiences have been notified of Joan's absence before the start of each show.

One disgruntled theatre-goer, Dawn Beddow, said today: "We were not notified until everyone was seated and the curtain was due to go up - nevertheless several people still left at this point."

She added: "They have replaced a 77-year-old female superstar with a much younger man in drag, however the script has not been updated to reflect this; meaning most if not all of the related gags fall flat."

Described as the UK's biggest pantomime, Dick Whittington opened at the theatre in Hurst Street on December 18 and will run until January 30.