Top Gun: Cruise encounter sees helicopter couple at premiere

Alison Webb and her partner Neil Jones attended the premiere after Tom Cruise used her back garden to land his helicopter

A chance encounter with a Hollywood star and his helicopter led to a couple turning up at the premiere of Top Gun: Maverick.

Star Tom Cruise landed in Alison Webb's Warwickshire garden in August as nearby Coventry Airport was shut.

Having come to his aid, Ms Webb said she chanced her luck and asked his people for tickets for the premiere.

"I felt like a real superstar with everyone watching, a once in a lifetime experience," she said.

While she and partner Neil Jones did not get a second chance to talk to Cruise, Ms Webb said they had a "real buzz" walking the red carpet on Thursday.

"We got into Leicester Square, we had tickets for the red carpet - although not the celeb bit - but it was really nice, walking the whole thing," she added.

"Then Tom Cruise introduced the film, it was amazing, we really enjoyed it. Just a fabulous night."

The actor was in the country in 2021 filming the latest Mission: Impossible film and at the time needed somewhere to land.

Cruise posed for pictures and gave a free helicopter ride to Ms Webb's and her partner's children.

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His representatives left their details and when the date of the Top Gun premiere was announced, Ms Webb said she rang up and said asked if they could return the favour.

Two tickets duly arrived and "properly glammed up" she and her partner walked the same red carpet as others on the guest list including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Ms Webb said being at the premiere was a "once in a lifetime experience"

Looking back on the events leading up to the premiere, Ms Webb said it "it was nuts" and the story of the helicopter "still has some momentum".

"I am still getting calls about it after all this time."

Critics have praised the return of Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick, calling it a "barrier-breaking sequel" to the original 1986 fighter pilots movie.