Sex And The City creator: I'd love to see Carrie return

Sex And The City fans were left crying into their Cosmopolitans last year when the director of its spin-off show, And Just Like That, announced unexpectedly that the series would end.

‘It became clear to me that this might be a wonderful place to stop,’ Michael Patrick King explained.

Now, however, Candace Bushnell has voiced her shock at the sudden end of the series.

‘I am disappointed, but probably not for the reasons that you would think,’ the best-selling author tells me.

It was her column for The New York Observer that was adapted into a best-selling book. This was the basis for the hit television series and two subsequent films.

The American is blunt about the financial hit she’s taken from its cancellation. ‘I’m disappointed because I got money, and I got a credit, so it’s, like, damn, that’s a loss of a few hundred-thousand dollars.’

Referring to the drama’s main character, she says: ‘I do wish that it had continued for that reason, but also that’s the end of Carrie as well.’

Sex And The City was first broadcast in 1998 and followed the adventures of four New York women: Carrie, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Samantha (Kim Cattrall). Cattrall, 70, didn’t reprise her role for And Just Like That, which reunited the remaining trio.

Speaking at the Cliveden Literary Festival in Berkshire, Candace believes there’s still life in the franchise. ‘I feel like they could make another movie or something like that. I still hold out some hope.’

If Carrie does return, Candace, 67, believes that Parker, pictured far left with the writer, would be key to making it work. ‘God bless Sarah Jessica Parker because she went out every night,’ she says of the actress’s promotional efforts.

‘She dressed up, and she really brought a lot of publicity and attention to the show, and has continued to want to play that character, which is fantastic because you know a lot of the time actresses don’t want to stay in the same role. It’s really been a blessing.’

Diva Danielle’s transports of delight at Ascot 

Opera star Danielle de Niese was delighted to ride in the Royal Procession at Ascot this summer, and one detail made the honour even more profound.

‘I was the only woman who was recognised on my own merit and was not the missus of someone else,’ she tells me at a screening of The Handel Scandal, a Sky Arts documentary, at White City House.

The lyric soprano, 47, is married to Glyndebourne Festival Opera chairman Gus Christie. She was, however, listed in Ascot’s official Royal Procession Carriage List as Ms Danielle de Niese, rather than Mrs Gus Christie, the style used for other women.

‘It was very meaningful to me,’ says Danielle. ‘I’m very proud to be Mrs. Christie. But, wow, I was there on my own steam.’

Husband is stealing my limelight, jokes Prue

Dame Prue Leith regrets including her husband, John Playfair, in her ITV programme, which is filmed at their home. He’s become such a star of Prue Leith’s Cotswold Kitchen that he’s propositioned by fans at the supermarket – in front of her.

‘I thought I’d better drag him in – because if you have a film crew in your house for two weeks at a time, it will make anybody want a divorce,’ explains the former Great British Bake Off judge, 86. ‘He’s turned out to be fantastically good at it – so much so that I’m now regretting it. We were in the Co-op the other night, and were paying, and I was getting the stuff out of the trolley. The woman behind the till said: “You’re that man from the telly! I love it. In fact, I’m in love with you.” ’

Dame Prue adds: ‘She’s in his face, and I’m standing there and I’m just packing the bag. Not a glance my way.’

A woman of Substance star Lenny Rush, who has dwarfism, tries to make his condition a laughing matter. ‘Growing up, if you can say growing – getting older – I’ve noticed that sometimes having a conversation, it could be awkward,’ says the Bafta-winning actor, 17. ‘They’re so worried of saying the wrong thing. I’m not like that at all. I’m up for a laugh.’

Howden’s girl has a scream 

When your family’s Cotswolds estate has entertained everyone from Princess Beatrice to Hollywood stars Florence Pugh and Jodie Comer, the bar for throwing a party is set quite high. But Jemima Howden is determined to live up to expectations.

The 22-year-old daughter of insurance tycoon David Howden, who leases Cornbury Park, home of the Wilderness Festival, threw a racy Halloween bash for pals.

Jemima wore a low-cut black and white corset and lace black bra, a feathered skirt and a scarlet flower in her hair. ‘Girls gone ghoul,’ she joked.

Queen Elizabeth and Dame Judi Dench are among those to have sat for sculptress Frances Segelman, but there’s one person who particularly sticks in her mind.

‘Joan Collins – she was very difficult,’ the artist says at a live sitting in Covent Garden, London, where she was working on her bust of Celebrity Traitors contestant Richard E. Grant. ‘Dame Joan was there in a room with 300 people, and she didn’t want anyone to look at her. There were a few other things…’

Do tell!

Bettany’s dress code: No shorts for over-25s

Paul Bettany, star of The Da Vinci Code, has revealed his sartorial rules.

‘You can’t wear flip-flops in a city – disgusting,’ declares the London-born actor, 55, who lives in the US with his actress wife Jennifer Connelly. ‘You can’t wear shorts if you’re over the age of 25, unless you’re about to do an athletic event or you are by water that you’re going to dive into.

‘Honestly, I will never eat a meal in shorts,’ he adds. ‘If I’m on a boat, I have a dive bag with me with a pair of trousers in them, and I will swim to the beach and go to the taverna and change and eat in the taverna.’