Helen Mirren and Liam Neeson have reunited on The Graham Norton Show decades after their five-year romance ended.
The couple, who dated between 1980 and 1985, both filmed interviews this week for The Graham Norton Show to air on Friday night (19Jan18) – Helen to promote Winchester and Liam to talk about his new film The Commuter.
Speaking about their former relationship, which began after they met on the set of 1981 movie Excalibur, Helen said: “We didn’t date, we lived together for four years – we were a serious item for a while. Lucky me!”
Liam also spoke about how he knew Helen was interested in him, with the actress apparently making her feelings more than clear on the set of the film.
“Before I met her and we worked together I had read somewhere that if she fancied a guy she would imitate his walk behind his back. ‘I turned around one day and she was doing that to me’,” he said.
And it was when Helen emerged on set in full costume as Morgan le Fey, the enchantress in the Arthurian legend, that Liam realized he was “smitten”.
“I remember being on the set and standing with Ciaran Hinds as Helen walked towards us dressed in her full Morgana Le Fey (sic) costume and we both went, “Oh f**k” and I was smitten,” he remembered. “I think Ciaran was too but I was very smitten.”
Clearly thrilled to hear the story, Helen, who has been married to director spouse Taylor Hackford since 1997, smiled: “I never knew that. You’ve never told me that before – it’s amazing.”
The 72-year-old actress, who looked stunning in a white fitted dress for the TV appearance, also spoke about the sexual harassment scandal sweeping Hollywood in an interview with Sunday Today, and recalled how she was frequently caught up in uncomfortable situations in her 20s – before she came to Hollywood.
“When I was between 16 and 23, 24 – men would expose themselves to me often, I would say about once a week… on the subway, on the tube, on the bus, walking down a road and it was like, ugh… It’s not like you’re gonna go, ‘Oh my god, that’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.’ It’s the opposite. It’s horror,” she remembered.
