Arts & Media: A hunk he may be, but Helen says Harrison can't kiss

Hollywood heart-throb he may be, but Harrison Ford is no kisser, the actress Helen Mirren has disclosed.

Mirren, 51, who starred opposite Ford in The Mosquito Coast, told Zoe Ball and Kevin Greening on yesterday's Radio 1 Breakfast Show that she did not rate the American star's abilities when it came to puckering up.

"In the films he's the nicest, sweetest guy you could want to meet. But he can't kiss - he finds it impossible to kiss on screen. And she added: He's probably not very good off screen either. It's not just me - other actresses agree. Whenever we get chatting off screen and we get around to talking we come to the same conclusion: `He couldn't do it with me either!' He does try, but it is just not there."

Despite a prolific career, Mirren is probably best known for her television portrayal of Det Supt Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect, and she returns to the small screen in a two-part drama, Painted Lady, on ITV on Sunday and Monday, in which she plays a very different kind of sleuth - a ravaged blues singer with a pierced nose.

Her real-life partner of 11 years is American director Taylor Hackford.