Four held at Cruise premiere

There was a cuddle, a kiss and, yes, even a tongue as Tom Cruise and new fiancee Katie Holmes turned it on last night for their first public appearance together in Britain.

The couple were cheered by fans as they arrived in Leicester Square for the British premiere of the actor's new film War Of The Worlds.

Unfortunately, a man posing as a reporter then put a dampener on things by spraying Cruise in the face with water as he 'interviewed' him.

The prankster had a microphone and a three-man camera crew with him and was thought to be working for a TV comedy programme.

But Cruise, 42 was not amused. Struggling to stay calm, he asked: 'Why would you do that, why would you do that?' As the man tried to explain himself, Cruise said: 'Do you like thinking less of people, is that it?

'That's incredibly rude. I'm here giving you an interview and you do that. You're a jerk, jerk. You're a jerk.'

The man was whisked off by security guards and into the Odeon cinema. Apolice source said he and his camera crew were arrested.

He added: 'They are being investigated in relation to an alleged assault on Mr Cruise. It was just water but that can be very alarming when it comes from a crowd out of nowhere.'

Cruise refused to let the incident spoil the night, and he chatted to fans for more than two hours with his 26-year-old fiancee on his arm.

Channel 4 today apologised to Cruise over the prank.

In a statement, the broadcaster said: "The incident that took place on Sunday evening involving Tom Cruise was for a new Channel 4 Entertainment show, part of which 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."