EXCLUSIVE: Celia Imrie enjoyed a whiff of success and increased fame after appearing on the BBC series last year won by Alan Carr.
Celebrity Traitors star Celia Imrie has revealed her infamous wind-breaking incident on the BBC show has followed her around the world – like a bad smell.
The actress had hoped to put her “little accident” – as she now calls it – inside the Scottish castle last year in front of Alan Carr and Kate Garraway behind her ever since it was aired on TV.
However, she keeps getting reminders about it all the time in the most unlikely places including when she is abroad. Celia, 74, said: “When it all died down, my friend Fidelis Morgan and I were invited by the Queen Mary 2 for a very quick trip to Hamburg and, really, whenever they invite us on we go and we give talks on board.
“And I thought ‘One day in the city of Hamburg? I’ll find a hop-on hop-off bus’. I love them because you can see all the sights in one go. Anyway I did – and it was called Stadtrundfahrt! Who arranged that I wonder?”
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In another incident the star – famous for appearing on Victoria Wood As Seen On TV, dinnerladies, The Thursday Murder Club, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and the current telly drama War – was stuck on a train to Belgrade with a group of Bulgarian students.
And she said: “The students said to me ‘The train is running an hour late. Would you like to look at our comic? You won’t understand the writing but you might laugh at the pictures’.”
And then they handed her the magazine which was called Bum. And she laughed: “Well I understood the title anyway!”
Celia has penned a book about her travels with her actress and writer pal Fidelis called The Elegant Hustler: Adventures From A Life On The Move. The pair – who met in the 1970s while working for the Royal Shakespeare Company – have been all over the world together for work and leisure.
But rather than fly, they prefer to go everywhere by sea, rail or bus as they feel they experience more. And despite her global fame, Celia admits she has had some funny encounters with fans in foreign places. In a coffee bar in Los Angeles once, one man thought she was the Norwegian actress Liv Ullman who famously worked with the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman.
She told fans at The Yeovil Literary Festival: “This man said ‘You’re my favourite. I’ve seen all your movies’. I think I even signed her name too for him. I do love being recognised though. I am easily flattered. One time this American woman said to me ‘I know you. You work the till at Seattle supermarket. Am I right?’
“And then this one gentleman came up to me after one of my talks and told me ‘Now I am not going to gush but I really enjoyed your talk. I wouldn’t say you are the best actress. Obviously that’s Pamela Anderson. But you are my second favourite.”
Asked whether a TV company had approached the pair yet to whisk them away for more amazing travel adventures in front of the cameras this time, Celia sighed: “No. Not yet!”
And Fidelis added: “So many people go on these shows and they fly there or get off the train and it’s about the bits in between and you think ‘Why don’t they ever do it about the actual journey?’ There is a wonderful show in France and the guy sits on a train and talks to the people on the train!”
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