Okay, so let's just dive straight into this because
the resume we are looking at today is honestly
kind of baffling. It really is a completely chaotic.
list of achievements chaotic is the perfect word
i mean if you saw this on linkedin without a
name attached you would assume there was some
sort of glitch in the simulation absolutely we're
talking about someone who went from being a blue
coat at a holiday camp to selling 20 million
records globally then pivoting to perform at
the royal academy of music and then this is the
wildest part right and then becoming an elected
town counselor in wales it's just a completely
unique arc i mean it's this fascinating study
in reinvention and resilience. Yeah, and honestly,
the weird intersection of high camp celebrity
and serious civic booty. So our mission for you
today is to do a deep dive into the life and
career of Ian H. Watkins. Yes. But wait, before
we go even one step further, pun intended, we
need to clear up something absolutely massive.
Yes, this is crucial. The source material puts
this right at the top for a very good reason.
We are talking about Ian H. Watkins. From the
pop group steps. We are definitely not talking
about the former Lost Prophets singer Ian Watkins.
Exactly. They have the exact same name. They're
both Welsh and they were famous in roughly the
same era. But they're two completely different
human beings. The other Ian Watkins is a convicted
sex offender. Right. And as we'll explore later
on, that confusion has caused. H, some really
serious nightmares. But for this deep dive, just
remember, we are talking about the tragedy dance
moves today, not true crime. Exactly. And actually,
that nickname, the H, is a big part of how people
distinguish him. Do you know what it actually
stands for? I do. It stands for hyperactive.
Which is just so fitting. I mean, if you've ever
seen him perform in the late 90s, it feels incredibly
accurate. It really does. And that hyperactive
energy is sort of the through line for his whole
life. Yeah. So we're basically tracking how this
energetic kid from the Ronda Valley navigated
the explosion of bubblegum pop, the sort of brutality
of reality TV, and ended up sitting on the Cowbridge
with Landbleithian Town Council. It's a wild
ride. So let's rewind a bit. Before the arenas
and the sequins, where does it actually start?
Because the source mentions he wasn't just plucked
from obscurity, right? Right. He was already
in the entertainment grind. Yeah. He paid his
dues in the classic British holiday camp tradition.
Which is iconic. Totally. He started as a blue
coat at Potten's and then later moved on to being
a red coat at Butlin's. Which, for anyone listening
outside the UK, is basically... boot camp for
entertainers oh it's grueling you have to do
everything you sing you dance you host bingo
you basically have to keep the kids from crying
all day exactly It teaches you how to work a
crowd no matter how tough or tired that crowd
is. You're just on from the moment you wake up.
And that training clearly paid off because in
May 1997, he joined Steps. Yes. And I think it's
really easy to look back at Steps now with a
bit of irony, but we have to look at the numbers
here because they were an absolute juggernaut.
They really were. I was looking at these stats
in the source. 14 consecutive top five singles
in the UK. 14. That is a staggering level of
consistency. It really is. I mean, that puts
them in Beatles or ABA territory in terms of
chart dominance. They had two number one singles,
two number one albums, and they sold over 20
million records worldwide. Wow. They even got
a Brit Award nomination in 1999. And it wasn't
just a UK thing either. They had hits all over
Europe. But then as boy bands and girl bands
tend to do, they split up in 2001. Right. And
usually that's where the story ends or at least
fades away. But H didn't stop at all. No, he
pivoted almost immediately. He formed the duo
H and Claire with Claire Richards, who was also
in Steps. Right. And they managed three singles
and an album. But what I find really fascinating
is what happened after that duo ended. Yeah,
this surprised me. He didn't just coast on his
fame. He went back to school. He went to the
Royal Academy of Music. Exactly. He took a musical
theater course. Think about that for a second.
He's already sold 20 million records. He could
have just done the reality TV circuit immediately
and made a living. He could have, but he was
actively seeking credibility and formal training.
He wasn't content just being the guy from Steps.
And if you look at his theater credits, he really
put that training to use. He wasn't just doing
little stunt casting cameos. No, he took the
title role in Joseph. and the amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat. Which is a huge role. And he showed
real range, too. He played the child catcher
in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I think that is a
genuinely creepy role. It is. It's pure villainy.
It's a very long way from singing 5, 6, 7, 8.
For sure. It showed casting directors that he
wasn't just a smiling pop star. He could actually
act. He also did the West End version of Fame
in 2007. And of course, the absolute British
staple, which is pantomime. Oh, you have to do
panto. He's played Buttons and Cinderella multiple
times, Muddles and Beauty and the Beast, Prince
Charming and Snow White. Which is smart because
it keeps you in the public eye, right? It maintains
that direct connection with a family audience.
But parallel to the stage work, he also became
this absolute fixture in reality TV. And this
is where we start to see. the man behind the
H persona a bit more. His reality resume is honestly
exhausting just to read. So long. Celebrity Big
Brother, where he came in fourth place, by the
way. Celebrity Scissorhands. Bargain Hunt. He
even learned Welsh in a week for a show called
Cariad at Eye. That linguistic connection is
really interesting because he is very proudly
Welsh. He was born in Winnipeg in Midglemorgan.
Right. But there's a cameo in that TV list that
I think is just brilliant. He appeared in Skins.
The gritty teen drama. Yes. Playing himself in
Series 4. That's amazing. It really shows he
has a sense of humor about his own image. He
knows exactly who he is in the cultural landscape.
He isn't fighting the cheesy pop star label.
He's just owning it. That self -awareness is
definitely key. But I want to talk about a specific
date the source mentions because it feels like
a massive turning point. January 3, 2007. Yes,
that was a huge day. Because that was the day
he entered the celebrity Big Brother house. And
coincidentally, or I guess probably strategically,
that was the exact same day he publicly came
out as gay in an interview with The Sun. Which
in 2007 was still a much bigger headline for
a mainstream pop star than it might be today.
Absolutely. And that interview revealed something
that completely recontextualized the entire Steps
era. Right, the manager. Yeah. During his time
in the band, he was actually in a relationship
with the group's manager, Tim Byrne. Oh, wow.
So while they were touring the world and topping
the charts, there was this whole secret dynamic
playing out behind the scenes. Exactly. I mean,
the pressure of maintaining that secret while
functioning as the heartthrob of a pop group
must have been immense. Oh, definitely. And once
he was out, he really started using his platform
for advocacy. Although it wasn't always a smooth
journey. There's a really intense moment mentioned
in the source regarding a 2008 documentary. Yeah,
the one he presented for BBC Wales about growing
up gay in Wales. I saw this in the notes. Right.
He actually interviewed Stephen Green. Right.
The leader of Christian Voice. And just to be
clear for everyone listening. We are strictly
reporting what is in the source material here.
We aren't taking any sides or endorsing any viewpoints.
Of course. But the source explicitly states that
during this interview, Green compared Watkins
to the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Which is
just a shocking thing to say to someone's face.
It's horrific. We are just conveying what the
documentary captured, but it really highlights
the kind of intense hostility he was facing.
It really does. It wasn't just sparkles and dance
routines for him. He was actually in the trenches
of the culture war, trying to explore his own
identity and community. And speaking of breaking
barriers, we have to fast forward a bit to 2020,
Dancing on Ice. Oh, this was a genuine first,
a real television milestone. Yeah, he competed
in the 12th series, and he was the first celebrity
in the entire history of the show to compete
in a same -sex couple. He was paired with the
professional skater Matt Evers. That's just a
huge milestone for primetime family television.
It really is. It normalizes seeing two men dancing
together in a romantic or artistic context on
a massive... mainstream platform, it connects
right back to that idea of him always pushing
forward from the holiday camps to making history
on ITV. Now, we've talked a lot about the highs,
the fame, the barriers broken, but we really
have to address the dark side that we teased
in the intro. And this goes back to the name
confusion. This is a seriously concerning issue,
and it touches on something we all have to deal
with now, which is digital identity. Right. In
November 2013, reports started coming out that
H was receiving awful hate mail on Twitter. Because
people thought he was the other Ian Watkins.
Correct. The Lost Prophets singer had pleaded
guilty to horrific sex offenses involving children.
Awful. And because they share a name and a nationality,
the internet mob, who as we know often do not
check their facts, just came after H. And it
wasn't just random anonymous trolls either, right?
Major media outlets messed this up. This is the
part that is truly frightening. E! Entertainment
Television actually used a photo of H to illustrate
a story about the criminal. No, that is just
massive negligence. Yes. They actually had to
issue a public apology in court over it. I can't
even imagine. But the damage goes so much deeper
than just one TV segment. Watkins actually had
to pursue legal action regarding Google News.
Because of the search algorithm? Exactly. When
you search for the crimes, his image was appearing
right next to the stories. Oh, my God. Imagine
the impact of that. Yeah. You are a children's
entertainer, a pop star, and your face is being
algorithmically associated with heinous crimes.
That is terrifying. It's like a dystopian nightmare.
You can have all the money and fame in the world,
but the machine just decides you're a criminal
because you share a name. It shows exactly how
fragile our reputations are in the age of automation.
And yet in true British fashion, it even became
a joke. Well, you know, satire is a way of processing
trauma, I suppose. The comedic musical act Kunt
and the gang actually released a song in 2015
called The Wrong Ian Watkins. That's incredible.
You really have to laugh or you'll cry. Exactly.
But he didn't let that destroy him. He just kept
working. And not just in entertainment either.
Which brings us to the most recent and probably
most surprising chapter of all. Counselor H.
I absolutely love this part. This brings the
story to May 2023. He was actually elected as
an independent town councilor for Cowbridge with
Landlethian Town Council. It's just a brilliant
image, isn't it? You've got the guy who's saying
five, six, seven, eight, now sitting in meetings
debating zoning laws and bin collections. It
sounds like a sitcom pitch, but it's real. It
is real. And it's actually quite consistent with
his character when you think about it. Yeah.
He's always been deeply. about community, whether
that's the LGBTQ community or his local Welsh
community. That makes a lot of sense. Plus, he's
a father now, too. The source notes he has twin
sons born via surrogate. in 2016. So he's settled
down. He's investing in his home and his local
area. But he's still dealing with public pranks.
Did you see the Joe Lycett story from the notes?
Oh, the statue prank. Yes. In 2024, the comedian
Joe Lycett created this whole fake news story
that H was going to be honored with an eight
foot statue in Cowbridge. As part of his show,
Late Night Lycett. It's just another example
of how he is this permanent fixture in the pop
culture consciousness. He's totally game for
a laugh, but he's also doing. the serious civic
work behind the scenes. It's just amazing that
the Steps brand itself has survived all of this
too. Because we skipped over a big chunk of their
later career. They didn't just fade away after
the 90s. No, they didn't. And there's a really
good business lesson here. They identified a
specific gap in the market. Yeah, when they reunited
in 2011 for that Sky Living documentary, Steps
Reunion. Right. Their album, The Ultimate Collection,
went straight to number one. Lisa Scott Lee had
a really insightful quote about this in the source
material, right? She did. She noted that at the
time they were in a recession and Steps music
was, quote, lighthearted and fun, so there was
a real place for it. People needed the escapism.
Exactly. They understood their exact value proposition
and they just kept going. They released Tears
on the Dance Floor in 2017 and What the Future
Holds in 2020. And these weren't just nostalgia
cash grabs either. They were charting albums.
What the Future Holds was huge. They even had
a track written by Sia. Yes. What the future
holds, the lead single. I mean, think about that.
Sia is one of the biggest songwriters in the
world, and she's writing for Steps in 2020. And
let's not forget the track Heartbreak in the
City featuring Michelle Visage. Exactly. They
kept evolving their sound just enough to stay
relevant while still giving the hardcore fans
exactly what they wanted. So what does this all
actually mean for us? We have a guy who starts
his career at Butlins, completely conquers the
global pop world, goes back to get trained at
the Royal Academy, becomes a reality TV staple,
fights a massive horrifying case of mistaken
identity, comes out and breaks barriers on primetime
TV, and is now serving his local community in
Cowbridge. When you lay the whole timeline out
like that. It is fundamentally a story of incredible
tenacity. Yeah. He navigates high camp celebrity.
I mean, you really cannot get more camp than
steps in Panama. But he balances it all with
very serious personal boundaries and civic responsibility.
He really managed to grow up in public, which
is notoriously hard to do. And he managed to
separate himself from a namesake that could have
easily ended his career. That's the real resilience
part, isn't it? It is. He totally reclaimed his
own narrative. He didn't let the search algorithm
or the Twitter trolls define who he was. He defined
himself as a father, an actor, a singer. and
a town counselor. It really makes you wonder,
though, doesn't it? In a world where Google can
just accidentally ruin your entire reputation
because you happen to share a name with someone
terrible, how much control do we actually have?
That is the truly provocative question here.
We all like to think we own our own identity,
but in the digital age, we are often just data
points to a machine. Right. E &H Watkins had
the financial resources and the public platform
to fight back and correct the record. But for
an ordinary person listening to this, that kind
of digital myth identification could be completely
unrecoverable. That is a very sobering thought
to end on. So I guess the next time you're scrolling
through Twitter or X or whatever it's called
this week, maybe double check your sources before
you tweet at someone. Please do. It really matters.
Thanks for listening to this deep dive into the
fascinating life of H. We'll catch you on the
next one.