Dame Helen Mirren has revealed her Italian olive grove at the home where she spends four months a year is under threat from a deadly plant disease as she warns British holidaymakers not to bring plants back from abroad.
The actress has joined forces with the Royal Horticultural Society in a campaign to stop the spread of the disease Xylella fastidiosa.
Mrs Mirren has a home in Puglia, where many of the olive trees, which are up to 2,000 years old, have been ravaged by the fast-spreading bacteria.
Her 80 olive trees have so far been unaffected by the disease, but they are at imminent risk as the disease spreads so quickly and so easily.