6.07 /// The Day ROBIN WILLIAMS May Have Dodged Me...

The platform has a way of turning ordinary minutes into stories you tell for years. Join me on a whistle-stop tour of celebrity encounters from the UK railways: a voice that sounded exactly like Patrick Stewart’s in the crush of a busy platform, a Sunday scheme to get “overcarried” just to speak to Louise Redknapp, and a fleeting café moment that felt unmistakably like Robin Williams—eyes bright, quick smile, and gone before I could be sure. Each scene sits at the edge of work and wonder, where duty pulls one way and curiosity tugs the other.

We talk about the unglamorous reality of public travel for famous people and the rules that protect their privacy. I share how customer service on the concourse shaped my view of celebrity: people first, travellers second, names last. The Manchester Commonwealth Games brought athletes and teams through the station in waves, while a brief chat with Helen Baxendale reset how screen personas distort our expectations. The memory that still glows, though, is a quiet meeting with Pete Postlethwaite, who remembered my brother by name and signed an autograph under the stairs to avoid a crowd. It was a masterclass in kindness without spectacle.

If you love behind-the-scenes stories, British rail nostalgia, and the delicate dance between admiration and respect, this one’s for you. You’ll hear how I approach a famous face with grace, when best to hold back, and why the best memories sometimes stay a maybe. 

Subscribe for more unscripted tales from the tracks, share with a friend who loves a good near-miss, and leave a review to tell me your best unexpected celebrity moment.

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Scene: Celebs On Trains
• 2:45 Boundaries, Rules, And Selfies
• 5:40 The Patrick Stewart Maybe-Sighting
• 9:40 The Louise Redknapp Almost-Overcarried Plan
• 13:40 Commonwealth Games And Famous Guests
• 18:05 Helen Baxendale: A Lesson In Grace
• 21:10 The Robin Williams Glimmer

Transcript

Stephen: 0:05

Hello, welcome to Infinite Prattle, another episode of season six, and today I'm gonna be talking about some of the celebrities that I've met while I've been um well on the railway really, and sometimes in my personal life, but mainly on the railway. That was a great intro. Did you recover from that terrible intro? I know I haven't. Anyway, on today's episode, I'm going to be mostly wearing a Goonies cap and talking about celebrities. Um mainly ones that I've met while working on the railway. Uh, and if I have time, I'll tell you about some that I've met in my personal life. So I've worked on the railway for quite a while now, I don't really want to say how long, a long time. And I started um as a customer service assistant with uh a company called Virgin Trains. Uh Virgin, Richard Branson, had a train company. Um and yeah, I left college and I had a part-time job while at college and then would join full-time. Uh and in my time working for um that train company and being on the front line basically of customer service, you bump into multiple people and you bump into celebrities. And I was talking to Sarah today, we went out for some breakfast, uh, went shopping, ended up having some breakfast while we were out, uh, had a lovely morning uh and we would we were chatting about stuff and I I I told her so she never heard, which is amazing because uh I talk a lot. Uh if you knew to the podcast, you may not know this fact, but she's the one that actually encouraged me to start the podcast because I prattle on so much. So you've got her to thank for this content. Um This chair's really annoying me, it's still making the sound. I hope it's not going across in the uh audio. I can never remember when I when I edit the when I when I like put the video together if it is coming across. Anyway, um you naturally meet people that are famous when you work in customer services because obviously they are just people and they also travel around. Um and trains are quite prevalent in the UK, you know, we've got quite a good network, and it's an easy way to get from city to city, like it is in any country, I suppose. Um and yeah, I was saying we were talking to Sarah today while we were having breakfast in a little cafe, and um I told her a couple of little stories, and I I I just thought I'd like relay them to you today, and maybe a couple of extras if if I have time. So I can't remember how we got onto it, but we were talking about like um celebrity and um I think we were talking about Ian McKellen, and I I think we were talking about oh that's that's what it was. I saw someone that looked a little bit like Garin, you know, the Irish guy that is on TikTok and Instagram and does singing. We saw someone out the window that looked a bit like him, and I said, Oh, if it is him and he comes up here, I'll say hello to him. And Sarah's basically like, Oh, you wouldn't do that because you don't like really interfering with celebrities, which is right, you know. I saw one of the British superbike riders weirdly had a Starbucksing crew um earlier on in the year, and kind of wanted to get a selfie with them or at least talk to them or whatever. Um I didn't really want to, because I didn't want to bring any any attention to them. Uh but I did I did go over and just say hello and kind of just show my appreciation and say like kind of you know appreciate what you do, it's an amazing sport, and I'd being a motorcyclist myself, I really could not go around a race course that quick. Um it does amaze me every time. Every time I go to a PSB race, it amazes me how fast they're going past you, it's it's scary. So yeah, I didn't I didn't want to get a selfie. Sarah's really saying, like, go get a selfie, get a selfie. I was like, oh I feel awkward about it. Um but yeah, I I'm kind of like that, and and even though I've met quite a lot of celebrities, I I'm not really one for getting autographs. And actually, when I worked for Virgin, it was something that was I think it was actually against the rules to my celebrities for uh autographs. It was indeed very frowned upon if it wasn't against the rules. Uh which which you can see why, you know, it's drawing attention to them. Some people are very private and you know they're just travelling and you want to be a professional. Um But we were talking about like um we came on to the fact that Ian McKellen, so I was like, Oh, I'd Ian McKellen's lovely, and I said, Oh, he's he is lovely, and I'd I'd want to get a picture with him. And I've seen him, he actually takes the camera off people and does selfies and stuff, and yeah, I think he really enjoys doing that. And um I mentioned Sir Patrick Stewart, um and I should say Sir Ian McAllen, because they both are Sirs, so sorry about that. Um but yeah, I I mentioned Sir Patrick Stewart and said that you know I'd probably lose more lose my shit if I s if I met him if I'm honest with you. Uh just love the Bones of the guy. I don't I don't know why he's I know he's a great actor and blah blah and he's one of my favourite captains in Star Trek, if not my favourite. He might Kirk might just edge him out, but Picard is a flaming good character. Uh they're very much on par with me. Um I think it depends on what I'm feeling on what day who's who's the best. Um but yeah, I basically said, you know, I would lose my mind. And then I went on to say, this is getting to the point of railway, I said I actually think I met him or he he got on a train next to me one one time when I was working on the train station in crew. Um and it was real I remember just being super super busy. I don't know any dates or anything like that, it was just a day. Uh I think it was when I was a full-time member of staff, so it would have been after I finished college. I think I was I don't know, I don't know. Anyway, but he there was a couple of people, and I'd seen this guy like really nicely dressed with a flat cap on, long long overcoat, and with a couple of people, but not really paid much attention. Um had his collar drawn up. It was a cold day, very busy on the platform. And the train came in and I opened the door, and I think it was the door, it was the coaches between first and standard, so I'm not sure where they went to sit. I think they went to sit in first class, but the first person boarded and I I opened the I opened the door and kind of went, There, there you go, sir. And um he said thank you. But I swear it was Patrick Stewart's voice, like he's got a very distinctive voice, and I was like, What? Kind of like what and the person behind him kind of looked at me and went, Yeah, like yeah, cheers, thanks, but was looking at my face to say, Yeah, I I think you think I think you know who that is. But I couldn't see the guy's face properly because I wasn't because I was doing my job and um he he had his collar pulled up, but I saw like the corner of his cheek and side of his face, and it looked like he had no hair with this flat cap on. Um I mean it might not have been, it might just have been someone with a very, you know, um deep voice and a a similar sounding voice, but I was like, whoa, that's that's crazy. Um I like to think it was him. It makes me feel better than it was him in some sense, but it was so busy I really wanted to just get on the train and and see. Uh I have quite strong feelings about like following the rules, and it was so so busy. I think if it had been quieter, if I'd have just got on the train, if I'd got locked on, I'd have been like, oh well, never mind. Um something that never actually happened to me when I worked on the trains, um, is getting locked on, and it's called being overcarried. Uh it never actually happened to me. I tried it once uh with the singer Louise, who was in a band called Eternal in the UK. Don't know how famous they were elsewhere in the world. Uh I think they did try the States, I'm not sure how famous they got, but they were they were kind of like England's Destiny's Child, basically. Um I quite liked them as a band, and and Louise, she ended up marrying Harry Redknapp, who played for Liverpool. Uh and she was on a train and I saw them through saw them through the window, and I was like, oh my god, that's Louise Rednapp. And she smiled at me and I was like, oh my god, she was stunningly beautiful with these two dancers, and they were beautiful as well. And it was a really quiet day, I think it was a Sunday, really quiet, and everyone had been getting overcarried on trains, and I'd never had, and I was like, you know what, this is this is the day I'm gonna get overcarried on a train with Louise Redknap in. I don't think she was married to Jamie Rednap at the time. Um me probably thinking she's single and I'll have a chance. So I basically tried to get overcarried, um, and one of the station staff called f uh station staff members called Fred he came and rescued me. Uh and he opened the door and he went, he went, Come on, Stevie! You speak like that. Uh come on, Stevie, and I noticed you nearly got overcarried. And I was like, Oh yeah, cheers, Fred. Um, and the thing is I was waiting in the vestibule before the train left, before I went in to speak to her. So I didn't even get to speak to her or see her properly because I thought I'll hide in the vestibule area before the train leaves, and then once the train leaves, I'll go, Oh dear, I've been overcarried. And that'll be my omena to speak to her. So I'd kind of semi-planned it in about 10 seconds. Um yeah, and that was the that was the thing with Patrick Stuart. I didn't want to get overcarried because it was so busy, I didn't want to let my friends down. Uh I worked with my colleagues down that I worked with. Whereas that was a time um it was quiet and I thought I'll feel less guilty. Um but yeah, I just um I've met quite a lot of celebrities uh that I know of as well. So um a lot of UK-based celebrities, like some celebrity chefs, a lot of athletes. I I worked at Manchester when the Commonwealth Games was on, was it 2001, 2002? Um so I met a lot of the the athletes and a lot of the teams, met Team GB. I actually escorted Team GB to the stadium and uh welcome we had it was like a welcome party with Richard Branson and a lot of executives and I'm guessing people that give money to the um like sponsorship people and stuff like people that sponsored the event, corporates and that was a weird situation. We actually watched uh the band S Club 7 practicing while we were at the arena. It was the Manchester now Manchester City Stadium and uh that was a bit of a strange, strange situation. Um but yeah, Denise Lewis have met her. She's absolutely stunningly beautiful, she was so so lovely. Um just a tall, strong, powerful, beautiful woman. Like, not just looks-wise, she was just so lovely to us. Um I think it was it you and Tom Thomas met him as well. There were so many people, so many, so many sports sports people I've met. Uh met Helen Baxendale, um, who's famous in this country for a program called Cold Feet, amongst other things. And she played Emily in Friends, which was Ross' girlfriend Ross's girlfriend, and and the one that he was marrying when he said uh take the Rachel. Uh so yeah, I met her, and I always thought she was this is gonna sound terrible, so I'm I'm sorry, Miss Baxendale. Uh I always thought she was a bit like uh harsh looking and you know kind of plain. And I was still on Manchester Piccadilly Station and this woman walked up to me, and I remember thinking she was walking up thinking, you're just really naturally beautiful. Um wow, and she asked me when the next train such and such was, and then I was like, Oh yeah, and I was like, Oh, are you Helen Boxendale? And she was like, Yeah, I am, and I was like, her face just lit up. I was like, Wow, what a pleasure to meet you! And I said something I don't know if she heard me, but I said something like you're far more pretty in real life. Um, and I don't know if she heard me, because she just went, Oh, right, great, thanks, and she went, unless she was just being really polite in English. Um, but as soon as she walked off, I was like, What did you shout? I don't mean it like that. Like, because obviously her characters and stuff they're made up in a certain way, and Emily, especially in Friends, that she was mainly where I knew her from. She was always made to be like prim and proper, but in real life she was just lovely looking. Um and I felt so bad, and I was like, oh my god. So Helen Baxendale, I apologise that I basically made out as if you were ugly and I was surprised you were pretty. Um which has which actually was my reaction if I'm honest with you, but you were very, very lovely and you were very gracious if you did hear me to not call me out on it, so I apologize. Um and I I told Sarah's story about someone I thought I met, and it was someone we lost uh from the world of entertainment, and one of my favourite all-time people in the entertainment industry is Robin Williams. Uh actually, there's not many people that are famous that I've never actually met or spoke to or anything like that that kind of chokes me up when I think about it. But Robin Williams is one of them. I think he was an absolute ray of sunshine, just a ball of energy, and played some of my most favourite characters of all time uh in a s in series roles and in comedy roles. I mean Mork and Mindy when I was a kid, um crack still cracks me up now, but Robin Williams is Mork. Like, oh my god, like I wanted to be him as a kid, like I just wanted to be him. I wear his clothes, I just thought he was cool, even though he looked ridiculous with that hair, and like I'm watching it in the 80s, and I think Morgan Mindy was like late 70s, so I'm watching it kind of like almost like a retro programme. Uh so it wasn't really the fashion at the time, and I was like, I want to wear what he's wearing, dungarees, stripey coloured top, mad hair, like you know, acts ridiculous, like uh I feel like he formed my personality as a child somewhat. Um Yeah, and I have a story about Robin Williams in Crew Station, so crew is where I live, and I was working one day, and I came into the cafe, which is on platform six, so anyone that's been through crew or has has has come to crew, there's an Middle Island, and there's a cafe who spans between platform six and eleven, and I was working on the station, full version trains, as a customer service uh assistance person that day. So there's various roles you play, and I used to do a lot of customer assistances, so basically you can book to have help, and that was my role for the day. You get a big list of people, what train they're coming in on, what train they're going on, etc. And I would just go meet them, put them somewhere, and then go and put them on the next train. Quite a lovely job to be fair. Um, because you're helping people, you know, people with anxiety or just scared of travel or just people that can't manage, you know, need wheelchair uh ramps and such things. So um really nice job. And I remember putting this lady into the cafe to say, Right, I'll put you here, you know, are you okay? You can get yourself a drink and stuff, your train's not for like another hour or whatever. And I caught the this guy's eye as I walked in and thought, oh, he looks really interesting. Like I thought he's he's got a an and he was it was almost like a he'd looked scruffy, but it was like an expensive scruffy. Um he was wearing like a woolly, it was I think it was winter or autumn, he was wearing like a woolly jumper, but you could tell it was an expensive jumper even though it was a bit rough, and maybe cord or all the trousers, but he just had this beard and and scruffy hair, and I think he was wearing like a cap, like maybe a flat cap. Flat caps are obviously the age. Um and he was reading a book or like had a notebook or something like that. He had someone in his hand and a little bag, and um there was something about him that drew like his energy, like I don't know, it was it was strange. So I s I helped this well, I was concentrating on this woman, so I helped was helping this woman. Um scared of settled, you know. I think I even went and bought a drink for her, she gave me some money, I went and bought a drink because I was I like to go a bit of extra mile. It wasn't really my job to do that, but I liked to do the extra mile, it was very customer service focused, and um as I said, right, I'm gonna leave you here, I'll be come back in a little bit and check on you. And as I was leaving, I I turned to him and I caught his eye again and smiled, and he was he he smiled back, but his eyes lit up and the smile and for me it was Robin Williams, but it took me a few seconds to realise, and as I turned to walk out through the door, I was like, My god, that could that was Robin Williams. But then I was like, nah, Robin Williams in crew, nah. And then I walked away and I was thinking, no, but he had that beard in Is it Goodwill Hunting, or the Dead Poet Society? Goodwill Hunting, I think it was. I think earlier in the story when I told Sarah I think it was Dead Poet Society, but I think he's I think he's clean-shaven in Dead Poet Society. Oh, Captain My Captain. So it must have been Goodwill Hunting. So he had that kind of beard. And I kind of went back to the office to check on a couple of trains. And I was like, I'm gonna have to go back and look. Like I'm gonna have to go back because if it's Robin Williams, he's like like my idol. Like I need to like I don't care about the rules, I need to speak to it. And I went back and he was gone. And I said to the woman in the cafe, I said, the chapter was sat there, and she was like, Oh yeah, after you left, um he just got up and ran and jumped on a train, the first train that was in. Uh he must have been he must have forgot it, didn't realise it was his train, and I was like, That's really odd. And to this day, I I believe it was Robin Williams, I believe it was Robin Williams. Sincerely, the fact that I don't think anyone had that glint in their eye and that smile like he did, and that energy that was coming off him. And why would someone just suddenly just go and jump on a train? Like he seemed calm and like he knew what he was doing, and I I genuinely think he was like, shit, that guy's just recognised me. I need to go and get on a train now before multiple people do. Because like Robin Williams was is was huge, like he was a huge deal, and you can only imagine a busy train station if people start recognising him, you know, it's game over for him, really, I suppose. And then I'll leave you this last quick story before I go. I'll try and make it quick to keep the podcast to a reasonable length. Um, the last one was my brother met his favourite actor years and years ago. My brother used to work in the cafe on Cruise Station when he was at university as like a job to earn a bit of extra money uh when he was when he was home from university, uh, and I think before you went to university as well. And he his favourite actor was a guy called Pete Posselswaite. Now, he's one of these chaps, Pete Posswaite, that's when you say his name, you'd be like, I have no idea who he is, but as soon as you see him, you go, Oh, he's been in loads of stuff. And he played the priest in Romeo and Julia, and he's been in a lot of British productions like Brass Dov. And probably one of his most famous roles was Jurassic Park 2, I think it was, where he played one of the one of the hunter guys. And my brother met him in the cafe, he came in for a coffee and a and a sandwich or something like that. And my brother couldn't believe his look when he saw him. Uh, I might be paraphrasing this story here, but basically my brother was like, Oh my god, like you're my favourite actor, and I'm studying at university. And I think my brother was doing a monologue that was his from one of his plays or films, like Brastoff or something like that, or uh a Thought or Heard program that he'd been in. Uh, it was either a monologue or he was studying something, he was doing something to do with them anyway. He was basically, Oh my god, you Like my favourite actor, but he'd never asked for his autograph, and he he didn't really feel like he could after like kind of being a bit gushy. I think he felt like he'd been a bit over the top, and uh apparently Pete Paul Swaite was very, very okay with it. And he even gave my brother some money. He was like, you know, you know, this is like he kind of said, like, this is amazing at university doing this, like, good luck, and he said, Here's some money, and I think he said it was like this is for the books because I know how expensive they are, and he gave my brother£50, I believe. Um that's how I remember, at least anyway. Um, my brother would probably edit this story completely. Um but he was gutted he'd ever got his autograph. Uh and I was like, Oh well, he should have just done it, and he was like, Oh well, didn't feel like I could. And um it was about a year later when I started working full-time on the station that I was still on the platform one day and I was going back to the office and I walked back to this guy, and it was Pete Potterthwaite. So I went back to the office and did what I needed to do and thought I'm gonna have to get the autograph of my brother out, it's against the rules, but I'm gonna have to. Um so I went out and I discreetly kind of walked up to him and said, Excuse me, are you are you Pete Potterthwaite? And he kind of looked like kind of like, oh my god, I've been recognised, kind of thing. And he was like, Yes, I am. I said, Listen, I said, I'll try not to draw too much attention to you. And I was trying to do it as if it was like an interaction. I had my little arrival and departure book, and I was pretending to like check for a train. And I said, Listen, I said, You met my brother here a couple of years ago, like a year ago, um, and he didn't want to ask for your autograph, and I said, but it would mean the world to him if he did. And said he was working in the cafe over there and he was at he's been at uni and he's still studying now. And Pete Pulsewaite was like, Oh yes, I I remember the chap. He said, Um, his name's um Gar Gavin, and I was like, Yeah, that's right. And he was like, he says, How is he doing? And I said, He's doing great, like he's finished his like first year at uni or second year at uni and he's doing this, this, and this. And uh he was like, Wonderful, wonderful. He says, he says, Right. He said, he said, that's that's no problem. He says, if you get me a pen, and we were on platform five, and I never forget he went, meet me under the stairs in a couple of minutes, kind of thing. And so he obviously was very private and he could tell he he he wanted to do this, but he obviously didn't really want to draw attention because this is the time when Jurassic Park 2, I think, had just come out. I'm pretty sure that's the one he was in, and he was very much like about shielding himself, I think. I'm just checking the time. Uh very much shielding himself um being noticed, I think. Uh so we kind of met near the lift under the stairs, and I got the autograph and I was like I was like, thank you so so much. I said this is gonna mean the world to him. And my brother loved it, he was like, Oh my god, I can't believe he'd met him, and I said he remembered you. He didn't believe me that he'd remembered him, he was like, Ah, he didn't. I was like, honestly he did. And it was such a lovely moment, it was like and I was kind of like blown away that he'd remembered my brother, but he obviously made an impression, and I suppose that you know an actor of his calibre like probably doesn't meet people that kind of one know who he is, and maybe people saying them sort of things to him. So maybe it made an impression on him, and you know, um I'd like to think so. Um yeah, I just think that's a nice little story. Uh I've got loads of others, loads of others, they're all gonna go in my railway book that I'm writing. I'm writing a little bit of a memoir on the railway, and I'm gonna try and put all these in there, uh these um chance encounters, let's say. Um because there's multiple people I've met. Some sometimes not a good experience, but sometimes um a very good experience, and uh I just don't like to like hassle celebs celebs too much. Uh but it is cool when you meet someone that you know you do kind of aspire to be, or you you know, just have an appreciation for and you you know enjoy what they do. Right. I think I'll end it there. I took a long time, I thought I knew it would, I knew it would, you know me, prattling away. Uh anyway, thanks very much for tuning in. Um give us a thumbs up um if you can, if you want to. Uh no pressure. Um and join us again next week for another Infinite Prattle podcast. Don't know what I'm gonna be talking about, I don't really plan these things. So uh thanks very much for tuning in anyway, and uh yeah, keep on prattling.

SPEAKER_02: 24:19

Thanks for listening to Infinite Prattle with your host Steven.

SPEAKER_00: 24:27

Follow me on the social networks at Infinite Prattle and don't forget to subscribe. Thanks very much.