Sir Michael Palin has revealed that he still hears the voice of his late wife Helen Gibbins, who died last year after 57 years of marriage. The Monty Python star, 81, said she offers him pep talks from beyond the grave, telling him to 'get on with it'.
Speaking on ITV's Good Morning Britain, Palin described the feeling of losing his wife as 'like losing a bit of a limb'. He said: 'It's like you're a unit, and suddenly you are not a unit any longer. And it's a bit like losing a bit of a limb, you're not quite sure where you are.'
Palin met Helen on a Suffolk beach in 1959 when he was still a teenager. He later fictionalised the encounter in the 1987 BBC drama East of Ipswich. The couple married and had three children together.
Despite his grief, Palin said he finds comfort in imagining his wife's responses. 'I do hear her and she had a great sense of humour. Sometimes I will have done something and I'll get back and tell her about it. Although she's not there, I know her reply and it makes me smile,' he said.
The comedian will return to the stage this autumn with his There and Back: The Diaries Tour, revisiting memories from 1999 to 2009 across 13 dates. He added: 'I get on with work, that's the thing. And I hear Helen saying, 'Get on with it, go on, stop messing about'.'
