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Sir Michael Palin shared his thoughts on travelling the world and what might make it "stop" one day in a heartbreaking admission. The Small Prophets star is set to appear on this week's episode of The Jonathan Ross Show alongside actresses Catherine Tate and Anna Maxwell Martin plus BRIT award-winning rapper Aitch.

During his visit to the sofa, Michael talked about visiting 100 countries in his lifetime. He told the host: "I just kind of keep going until I stop, really. Even then I'm not sure about that." Speaking about whether he's able to go on a 'normal' holiday after so much travel, Michael added: "We always go away for a week a year. A nice villa somewhere and take all the family and four grandchildren and all that. I do feel a bit old on family holidays now. But my little granddaughter Rose is very sweet. I'm sitting there reading. She jumps in the pool, splashes everywhere. Then she comes out and says, 'Hello grandpa, are you alright?' Then she goes in the water again and it's 'splash!' They're great and much harder work than filming, I tell you."

The Jonathan Ross show is on Saturday at 10pm on ITV1 & ITVX.

Michael recently said he is still coming to terms with life alone following the death of his wife, Helen Gibbins, in 2023.

The heartbreaking news came just a month after the couple celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary. In a statement at the time, the 82-year-old said: "My dearest wife Helen died peacefully in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

"She had been suffering with chronic pain for several years, which was compounded a few years ago by a diagnosis of kidney failure."

He continued: "Her death is an indescribable loss for myself, our three children and four grandchildren. Helen was the bedrock of my life. Her quietly wise judgement informed all my decisions and her humour and practical good sense were at the heart of our life together."

Michael's spouse had endured years of chronic pain following a knee replacement, which left her with nerve damage and limited mobility.

Reflecting on her death more than two years on, Sir Michael admitted he still struggles with the shift from "we" to "I".

Speaking on the Marie Curie Couch podcast, he said: "I still say, 'We've got [this] in our garden', 'We have four grandchildren'. I still use 'We'. I find it impossible to say 'I'."