A celebrity enthusiast was left star-struck after meeting Olivia Coleman and Toby Jones on the Kent coast.

Westgate-On-Sea's Wilfred Jenkins, who is deaf and autistic, is well-known locally for posting online selfies with famous people and videos of himself teaching sign language.

The 26-year-old met the three Hollywood film stars in Thanet at events celebrating the release of new film Empire of Light yesterday.

He says Ms Coleman - who is best known for her roles in The Crown, The Favourite and Peep Show - was “lovely and very kind”.

“She knew who I was,” said Mr Jenkins.

“I stood outside the cinema and she came to me and she was very happy to have a selfie with me.

“Toby Jones was very humble, kind and a gentleman to me.

“I remembered Toby very fondly from Numbertime, a BBC children’s TV show that I used watch when I was little."

Mr Jenkins met the acting stars at the Carlton Cinema in Westgate, before the movie house hosted a special screening of the film, much of which was shot in and around Margate.

He then met the picture's director, Sir Sam Mendes, outside Dreamland, which invited those who attended the showing to look around parts of the attraction used during filming.

Mr Jenkins, who has met a variety of big names around Kent like Strictly Come Dancing winner Ore Oduba and actor Justin Fletcher, says this weekend’s encounters were a lovely surprise.

“At first I didn’t know they were coming as I was told it was for extras,” he added.

“Then I was told the celebrities would be there, so I quickly got dressed and I came there on time.

“I was being looked after by Luke the security and he managed to arrange me to meet those celebrities.”

Also starring Colin Firth, Empire of Light is a love story set in and around a cinema in an English seaside town in the early 1980s.

Parts of Margate were transformed during filming, with Dreamland made to look like a retro-looking picture house named the Empire and the seafront lit up between Nayland Rock and the Turner Contemporary.

The drama is being released in cinemas across the country today.