Tony Robinson recalls his first encounter with Miriam Margolyes

Miriam Margolyes groped Tony Robinson the first time they met, the Baldrick star revealed today.

Although Margolyes had forgotten the incident, Robinson jogged her memory on the moment that still lives in his mind when she appeared on his new podcast.

They met each other about 50 years ago when starring together on stage, and Robinson asked her: ‘Do you remember our sexual encounter at Leicester when we first met?

‘I don’t remember that,’ she replied.

‘I was in the wings, waiting to go on. And suddenly you put your hand down my trousers and tickled my balls,’ Robinson said.

Shocked Margolyes replied: ‘I never did!

Robinson: ‘Why would I lie about a thing like that? I remember how split down the middle I was because a part of me thought, oh, my God, this is fantastic. Nobody ever, just out of the blue does that to me. I must just squeeze every inch of pleasure out of this possible. The other part of me was thinking in about nine seconds time, I have to go on stage.

Margolyes: ‘Was it during a show?’

Robinson:’ It was during the show. The acting was going on. I was standing behind the door waiting to go on. You were, I guess, going to be on next after me and it was so funny.

‘I suppose nowadays people would say that to you sexually harassed me, but it wasn't like that at all as far as I was concerned. Looking in your eyes, it was the funniest joke possible.

Margolyes: ‘How very unprofessional of me, I am now apologising for that era, but I can't remember it. I'm so glad you remember it.’

Robinson: ‘It was probably the high point of my sexual life.’

Margolyes told Robinson she no longer thinks about sex, but added that even recently whenever she travelled by Tube: ‘I always looked at men's trousers to see where their cocks were. So there’s still a, I don’t know a little fragment of sex left in me.

Robinson questioned her: ‘So although you became a committed lesbian quite early in life, you were still looking at where men's cocks were. But what do you think that is? Just curiosity?

Margolyes: ‘Yes, I think it's curiosity. And also a rather charming sense of wonder. It's so interesting to me that that you have cocks and balls. Something that hangs outside of your body. Extraordinary.

‘So I think I'm still a bit amazed and rather thrilled. Something so different.’

The pair also reminisced about starring together on Blackadder with Rowan Atkinson.  Margolyes played Infanta Maria Escalosa of Spain in the first series, Lady Whiteadder in the second and Queen Victoria in the Christmas Carol special.

She said: ‘I loved all of you. All of you boys. You weren’t a bit like the boys from Footlights... You saw me as a person. You spoke to me. You were kind and fun.

‘I could see that Rowan was very, very shy. In fact, he stammered at that time. But he was a darling. Everybody was. I just felt, "Oh, I'm part of this. This is lovely." And that's what you want to feel when you're working (…)

‘Rowan made it very easy for me. It was just interesting because when he made a mistake, he got so angry with himself, didn't get angry with anybody else. He wasn't difficult. And you were just as gorgeous as you have remained. You were just kind and funny and friendly.’

Filming was very different to the tough time she had performing with the Cambridge Footlights alongside the likes of John Cleese and Graham Chapman.

She’s previously spoken about the sexism she encountered there and told Robinson: ‘They were just horrible to me and made me cry. And finally, as I have recounted, they didn't ask me to the cast party. There’s always a cast party at the end of the revue and I wasn't asked.’

• Tony Robinson’s Cunningcast launches today on all the usual podcast channels. Margolyes was talking about her new forthcoming volume of memoirs. Oh Miriam!

Published: 23 Mar 2023