Another awards ceremony...another dig at Heather

When it comes to the divorce of Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills, there can be little doubt where showbusiness sympathies lie.

Weeks after Jonathan Ross made fun of Miss Mills on stage, veteran broadcaster Ned Sherrin launched another attack.

See also:

• Macca's hot breakfast...and Heather's cold coffee

• 'Desperate' Heather set for Desperate Housewives

• I married Paul for love, not money, says Heather in first TV interview

• A little light legal reading for Heather on the plane?

At the Evening Standard Theatre Awards yesterday, the Radio 4 presenter compared the former glamour model to TS Eliot's unstable wife, Vivien Haigh-Wood, who had severe mental illness.

Announcing the nomination of Frances O'Connor as Best Actress for playing the poet's wife in Tom and Viv, he described the play as being about "a man who has his unstable wife locked up in the asylum. Paul McCartney is said to have seen it at least ten times," he added.

The audience, which included Kristin Scott Thomas, Jerry Hall and Kim Cattrall, exploded in laughter.

Miss Cattrall, who starred in Sex and the City, was seen to chuckle and shake her head after the slur on Miss Mills.

Last month, at the Q Music Awards, presenter Jonathan Ross called Miss Mills a "****ing liar".

"I wouldn't be surprised if we found out she's actually got two legs," he said.

Members of the audience, which included U2 frontman Bono and Noel Gallagher of Oasis, roared with laughter.

At the theatre awards ceremony, Kathleen Turner, 52, was named Best Actress for her performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Meanwhile Jerry Hall, who presented an award, spoke out about the furore surrounding voluptuous Jen Hunter, who beat her thinner rival in Channel Five's reality show Make Me A Supermodel.

"As long as you have charisma that comes across well in a photograph, the size can be pretty much irrelevant," Miss Hall said.