Cruise stunt show may be dropped

Watch the incident

The TV comedy show which squirted Tom Cruise with water at the War of the Worlds premiere in London may not be screened, Channel 4 has said.

Four TV workers were arrested after the 42-year-old actor's face and jacket were drenched with water from a fake microphone on Sunday.

Channel 4 has apologised to Cruise for the stunt, filmed for a comedy show.

All four men have been released on police bail and are due to return to a London police station on 4 July.

Channel 4 confirmed that a crew from the same show had squirted Sharon Osbourne with water at a cinema screening last month.

Rock manager and X Factor judge Osbourne responded by getting a bucket of water and going after her assailant.

Sharon Osbourne was squirted at a London cinema last month

A Channel 4 spokesman said the tape of Cruise being squirted was with the police, adding: "No decision has been made whether it will air."

He said the stunt was for an unnamed forthcoming show which partly involves "playing light-hearted comedy pranks on celebrities and members of the public".

"The stunt was intended to be light-hearted rather than malicious and we would apologise to Mr Cruise for any offence that was caused."

The four-man freelance TV crew were arrested on suspicion of assault.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We will see whether to pursue the charges, see whether the victim wants to pursue it."

Cruise - who attended the premiere with his new fiancee Katie Holmes - was talking to journalists in Leicester Square when he was squirted with water.

The star struggled to maintain his composure, repeatedly asking one of the Channel 4 team: "Why would you do that?"

He said: "What's so funny about that? It's ridiculous. Do you like making less of people?

Cruise and Holmes announced their engagement last week

"Don't run away. That's incredibly rude.

"I'm here giving you an interview, answering your questions and you do something nasty. You're a jerk."

The actor held the interviewer back and repeatedly called him "a jerk".

Security guards arrived and Cruise towelled himself down before signing more autographs.

The man was then taken inside the cinema by security guards.

Alien movie

After the incident, Cruise continued his hour-long walkabout to greet fans who had waited hours for their idol in the sweltering heat.

He is famed for his lengthy walkabouts at film premieres, spending hours greeting fans, signing autographs and talking on their mobile phones.

The stunt was intended to be light-hearted rather than malicious and we would apologise to Mr Cruise for any offence that was caused Channel 4 spokesman Spielberg: Cruise 'punished'

Leicester Square was turned into the scene of an alien invasion for the premiere of the Steven Spielberg-directed film.

Former Dawson's Creek star Holmes has followed in her fiance's footsteps, spending an hour signing autographs at the premiere of Batman Begins last week.

Cruise and Holmes announced their engagement in Paris on Friday after a whirlwind romance.

The War of the Worlds film is loosely based on the science fiction novel by HG Wells.

In it, Cruise plays a divorced father who must save his children when aliens come to destroy Earth.