Star's trip to Stonehenge with Stephen Merchant

One is a mysterious ancient spectacle that has mesmerised people for generations… and the other is Stonehenge.

But when Christopher Walken took a a sneaky after-hours visit the neolithic monument, even the Hollywood tough guy was no match for the English Heritage guide, who forbade him from touching the mystic stones.

Stephen Merchant took his co-star to see the Wiltshire landmark  during a break in filming their BBC One show The Outlaws.

‘We asked him if there was anything in particular he wanted to do while he was in the West Country and he’d always wanted to visit Stonehenge,’ he told the Inside... The Outlaws podcast.

‘So we arranged a kind of after-hours visit to Stonehenge and , like I said, he’s quite a quiet man. Quite sort of reflective and he didn’t say anything for about an hour.

‘Then the first thing he said was "apparently the blue stones have healing properties" and was quite sort of mystical. And he said to the lady showing us round "can I touch it?" It was so British, she went "no, absolutely not".

‘I’m like come on, "the man’s an Oscar winner. He’s travelled 5,000 miles".  "Definitely not. We don’t let anybody touch the stones".

‘I’m like, "someone must touch the stones! You’re not taking them in at night like garden furniture"

‘And she was like "definitely not". So Christopher had to leave without touching a stone.’

But Merchant, who also co-wrote and directed The Outlaws, concluded: ‘If you’d told my 14-year-old self that one day I would visit Stonehenge with the Oscar winning star of Pulp Fiction who stuck a watch up his arse, I wouldn’t have believed you, but there we were..

And with podcast co-host Geoff Norcott they came up with the idea of a celebrity travel serles. Walking with Walken.

Norcott also asked Merchant if they were scared of Covid while making the show, shot soon after lockdown restrictions were eased.

‘Absolutely terrified,’ Merchant replied. ‘Chiefly with Christopher because I just don’t want him to get sick on my watch.

‘Every day you go into work and you’re worried one of your main characters might die, it was like being in a real life Squid Game. It was really nerve racking.

‘One time I looked across and some fan had tracked Christopher down to our location and I looked and this guy had brought, as a gift, a bottle of Jim Beam whiskey for Christopher.

‘No evidence that he drinks Jim Beam whiskey, I think he just thought, "what do Americans like?" So I look round and Christopher’s got his arm around him and he’s doing a selfie with this Bristolian, and I’m thinking; he didn’t look like someone who was taking a lot of care with his health, because it was February and he was wearing shorts and sandals.

‘And I rushed over there and I’m like "Chris you can’t be hugging members of the public mate". I felt like a substitute teacher telling Christopher Walken off - "go and wash your hands". ‘

• The full episode of Inside... The Outlaws is available on BBC Sounds. 

Published: 11 Jul 2022