Hannah Waddingham and Tom Cruise hit it off because they are "similar-minded geeks"

She told The Sunday Times magazine: "We're like ridiculous 12 year olds. Me, him and [the film's director] Chris McQuarrie are very similar-minded geeks. On the aircraft carrier, I was spending hours a day filming F-18s landing and taking off."

Hannah plays a naval admiral and she and Tom, who reprises his role as Ethan Hunt, filmed on the George HW Bush aircraft carrier off the coast of Italy, sleeping alongside 4,500 navy personnel and before they had even arrived, the Ted Lasso star realised just how much of a "lunatic" her co-star could be.

She said: "I was in the admiral's quarters; he'd cleared out to some cot bed somewhere. Tom was in the captain's quarters.

"We'd arrived on a Black Hawk helicopter while the carrier was moving."

As they came into land, Tom told Hannah to film it on his phone.

She added: "He went, 'Welcome to Mission.' I was, like, you're a lunatic."

Hannah has previously been told she was "too big on camera" to be cast and though Jason Sudeikis wasn't worried about hiring the 5ft 11in star for Ted Lasso, she admitted some of the cast, who were not programme regulars, weren't as comfortable filming with her.

She said: "I even had a couple of day players in Ted Lasso going, 'Is it all right if she doesn't wear shoes in this scene?' "

Hannah went to drama school and when she was 19, one female teacher warned her she'd never work on TV because she looked "like one side of her face has had a stroke" and the cruel comments deterred her away from the small screen for a long time.

She admitted: "She really knocked my confidence so much that I then didn't audition for things for years on telly.

"I hope she's rotting somewhere. Silly cow. People like that it's their own insecurities and I know that now."