Marlow features in Channel 5's 'The Secret Life of the Thames with Tony Robinson'

The episode, which was partly filmed at Marlow Rowing Club and Bisham Abbey, aired on Channel 5 earlier this week and can be watched on catch up here.

Successful pararower Kingsley Ijomah, who trains in Marlow, and the Olympian Dame Katherine Grainger also make appearances in the show.

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Naomi won her gold medal at the London 2012 Paralympic Games as she became the first woman to row the entire length of the River Thames in less than 48 hours.

Sir Tony had a go at navigating down the Marlow stretch of the river with Naomi but things didn’t go as smoothly as planned.

She said: “He kept going ‘right’, and I kept replying ‘Do you mean right as in ok? Or right as in not-left?’

“So there was quite a bit of banter going on – the camera crew were in hysterics and everyone found the whole thing really funny.

“I wasn’t letting him get away with it! He took it all on really nicely and then we had a lovely chat on the pontoon afterwards.”

Naomi Riches

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, some plans for the show had to be changed but Naomi still had a great time meeting Sir Tony.

She continued: “Tony wanted to get on the river rowing but that couldn’t happen because he would have to be in a boat with somebody and that wasn’t allowed at the time. So there was quite a lot of juggling to be done before the event.

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“On the day it was lovely watching Tony at work because I’ve always known of him – I’ve always just known of him on our televisions.

"He’s actually just really genuinely interested in everything – the questions he asks, although they may be scripted, he really wants to know the answer.”