Pete Waterman

Waterman co-presented The Hit Man and Her (1988–1992) with Michaela Strachan. He also presented a show on Radio City.

Waterman has appeared as a judge on both series of Pop Idol in the UK (2001–03), and also Popstars: The Rivals (2002). The latter saw him become manager of the winning boy band One True Voice, who then lost the race to Christmas number 1 to the same show's winning girl group, Louis Walsh's Girls Aloud.

Waterman returned as judge for the second series of Pop Idol, but was constantly critical of the eventual winner, Michelle McManus, and was openly disappointed when she won. Waterman has since said he will not appear on any similar programmes in future,[12] and has on several occasions attacked more recent talent shows (specifically those devised by his former Pop Idol colleague, Simon Cowell).[5] Waterman has stated that he turned down offers to participate in The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and American Idol, citing fix allegations and being put off by unprofessional behaviour including that of Popstars: The Rivals co-judge Geri Halliwell during the show.[13]

Whilst he has kept his promise not to appear as a talent show judge, on 12 October 2008, Waterman joined his fellow ex-Pop Idol judges Neil Fox and Nicki Chapman on Peter Kay's spoof talent show Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice, a fully scripted fictional spoof on the talent show genre. The show parodied the emotional manipulation behind Cowell's shows, with Waterman memorably interrupting a funeral to tell an ousted contestant that the loss of his gran (who had died of shock when learning her grandson had been dropped from the show) would provide the sob story he needed to get him on to the show.

In factual television, Waterman's interest in trains saw him present a historic self-retrospective view in Waterman on Railways for Channel Four/the Discovery Channel. Waterman also appeared in an advert by the National Blood Service in the UK, their sixth TV advert which also features Carol Smillie and Will Carling.

Waterman was one of the contestants in the 2009 series of the BBC programme Celebrity MasterChef, but was knocked out in the first round.

In October 2019, Waterman appeared on The X Factor: Celebrity. Waterman was part of an all star audience during the auditions stage in Malibu at Simon Cowell’s house, providing commentary critique behind the main judges, alongside Randy Jackson, Howie Mandel and songwriter Diane Warren.

Waterman wrote and produced the UK entry for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest.[14] This song was performed by the final three acts on Eurovision, Your Country Needs You! on 12 March 2010, Josh Dubovie was chosen to represent the UK. The song came under much criticism and William Hill's betting odds gave the song 125-1 chance that the song would win, the longest odds for a UK entry ever. In the end the song, "That Sounds Good to Me", came last at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest receiving only 10 points in total.

Waterman's main interest outside music is in railways, and he has been involved in several railway ventures. In 1988 he revived the name of the London & North Western Railway, which as a group encompassed various ventures:

• LNWR: a rail vehicle maintenance business, based at Crewe it had depots across the country, and was by the time of its sale the largest privately owned rail maintenance business in the country. Having accrued debts of £2 million in building the business[15] in November 2008, Waterman sold it to Arriva UK Trains.[16]
• Waterman Railways: In 1994 during the opening stages of the privatisation of British Rail, Waterman bought the Special Trains Unit effective from April 1995, which ran tourist charters and special trains with six Class 47 locomotives and 200 Mark 1, Mark 2 and Mark 3 carriages.[17][18][19] This was the first unit sold from the LNWR Group.
• LNWR Heritage: was the steam locomotive and carriage restoration arm, based at Crewe Heritage Centre. The company undertook the restoration of Waterman's own locomotives, as well as various complete contract locomotive renovation and boiler overhaul work. Waterman became involved from 2012 in an industry bid to create a national railway apprenticeship scheme, but the bid was rejected in Autumn 2013. In March 2014, Waterman sold the business to the Royal Scot Locomotive and General Trust.[20][21]

To hold his own collection of locomotives, he founded the Waterman Railway Heritage Trust,[22] which currently owns several steam and diesel locomotives including:

• GWR 4575 class number 5553
• GWR 5205 class number 5224
• GWR 5600 class number 6634
• British Rail Class 08 number 08830 (D3998)
• British Rail Class 25 number 25309 (D7659)
• 46035 Ixion
• 47402 Gateshead
• SAR NGG 16 Class number 109

Waterman also has a keen interest in model railways, and is the founder of the model railway business Just Like the Real Thing, which specialises in O Gauge kits. He works closely with model-maker Laurie Lynch on this project. He continues to retain an interest in the company and regularly accompanies its sales stand to model railway exhibitions. Waterman has an extensive private collection of railway models and railway layouts, in O scale and larger gauges.[23] He is currently building a large model of Leamington Spa railway station, in O scale and set in the 1950s.[24] He has written several books and many magazine articles on the subject. He has said that his ability to become absorbed in making models helped him cope with grief after the death of his son.[25]

In 2007, Waterman became involved in a co-operative UK rail industry bid to create a national railway training scheme under the then Labour government, which after the Government seed funding was withdrawn from all such schemes, was halted in 2009. Waterman revealed in 2011 that he had since spent £900,000 of his own money on training apprentices at Crewe, and that outside Network Rail's own scheme, only 37 apprentices had been taken into the rail industry in 2011.[26] In January 2015, Waterman announced the sale of the bulk of his model railway collection, to fund the training of rail apprentices in restoring his steam locomotives 5224 and 5553, which in May 2015 were moved from Crewe to Peak Rail. In April 2015, the collection sold for £627,229 at the auction in Birmingham.[27] In July 2015, in partnership with rail engineering firm OSL, Waterman launched the Railway Exchange Training Academy (RETA) at Crewe.[28]

In June 2009, Waterman unveiled Manchester Metrolink Firema T-68 1007s new name “East Lancashire Railway” as a tribute to the Heritage Railway at Bury tram stop.[29]

In October 2018, Waterman unveiled The Will Hay Appreciation Society's memorial bench to Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt in Cliddesden, Hampshire the filming location for Buggleskelly in the railway comedy film Oh, Mr Porter!.[30]

In 2018, Waterman became president of the Railway Benefit Fund, a railway benevolent charity based in Crewe.[31]

On 20 October 2021 during a High Speed 2 site visit Waterman announced the name of one of the tunnel boring machines to be Dorothy.[32]

In 2021 and 2022, Pete Waterman also produced two different OO Gauge model layouts at Chester Cathedral. Both modelled different parts of the West Coast Main Line, with each being branded and 'Making Tracks'. In 2023, Pete Waterman (and his group of other enthusiasts nicknamed the 'Railnuts' group) will again produce a model railway, this time focusing on Milton Keynes Central railway station.

In addition to his passion for music and railways, Waterman is also a supporter of Walsall F.C.[33] He is also a rugby league fan and is president of League 1 side Coventry Bears.