Latest news with #GavinAndStacey
BBC News
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Gavin and Stacey star Joanna Page wrote autobiography at night in pub car park
As she turns the page of her career, Joanna Page felt the time was right for her only problem was finding the right time and place to actually write answer would prove to be a disused pub car park, or outside a cricket club in the middle of the night or even in a car in front of her own the result, as well as exhausting, has been "like a therapy session" for the Gavin and Stacey star as she looks towards the next chapter of her life. "I love telling stories and was very exciting thinking I'm going to write my life story because a lot of things have happened. But, trying to do that while looking after four children and four guinea pigs and a hunky husband is quite hard work," she told Behnaz Akhgar on BBC Radio Wales. "So at five o'clock I'll hand the kids over to James, make myself a quick cup of tea, grab a chocolate bar and drive to a little local pub that is just waiting to change hands, so nobody is going there. "I'll park in the car park, think of stories and write notes until 11.30 at night when I'll start freaking out, thinking I'm going to get attacked."So then I will drive to the car park of this cricket pitch closer to our house and work until about 1.30 in the morning and it's pitch black outside. When I think about it now it's ridiculous. "Then I drive back at home, park in front of the house, and then, no word of a lie, continue to work outside because if I go back in, [youngest child] Bo will sense me, wake up, and then everyone will wake up, and I won't be able to work at all. "So I'll work until five in the morning. At that point think, I'm near death, and I just think I can't go on any more. So I go inside, sleep for two hours, get up at 7 to get the kids ready for school and get on with the rest of the day and being with Bo. That is where my life is at the moment." Her autobiography, entitled Lush, recounts her youth in a small village near Swansea, graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art [Rada] and early stage and screen performances before her big break in the Bafta-winning sitcom Gavin and has led to countless TV and film roles, including romantic comedy Love Actually as well as regular presenting and, more recently, podcasts."It was very strange going back to the beginning. Thinking and talking of everything has been like a therapy session and quite liberating."But it does freak you out a bit as well, because I don't think I've ever analysed myself this much before. I'm an impulsive person so to think about everything so much has been quite scary." Scary but perhaps inevitable given Page reveals how three fortune tellers predicted she would become a it should be little surprise that she did not seek help from close friend and Gavin and Stacey co-creator Ruth Jones."She's so busy with her own stuff I think she'd be sick to death of me asking 'can you help me with this and that?'" The title of her autobiography, due out in September, is synonymous with her most famous character - Stacey Shipman - but Page believes Lush also sums up her own admits to crying "constantly" throughout filming of the final episode last year, then while watching with with her own family on Christmas Day and then being left a "wreck" after watching the documentary that followed."I'm just such a sentimental and emotional person anyway. My emotions are always so much on the surface that it got to the second day [of filming], I mean we were only on day two, I just started crying," she said."There was so much joy and so much laughter because we all knew this will be the last time that we're here, playing these characters in these costumes, all together, doing this story. "You think about how far all our lives have gone. I started it when I was 29, and for something to be there in the background for the whole of your life. "And then, even though, Ruth and James would say to us, that's it, it's done, you've still got that feeling in the back of your head, oh surely, in a few years, there might be something. But now knowing that's never going to happen again, it's just so sad." Additional reporting by Gwilym Hubbard.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Gavin & Stacey fans stunned as two beloved stars 'reunite' in new BBC murder mystery - gasping 'how am I supposed to take this seriously?!'
Gavin & Stacey fans were left stunned as two beloved stars 'reunited' in a new BBC murder mystery. The six-part series, titled Death Valley, premiered last month and sees DS Janine Mallowan (Gwyneth Keyworth) join up with TV detective John Chapel (Timothy Spall). It airs every Sunday, and the most recent instalment caught the attention of some viewers. During the episode, DS Janine received a call from her mother, Yvonne, who revealed a member of her walking group had been found dead on a trail. Yvonne was played by Gavin & Stacey star Melanie Walters and her appearance in the new murder series came as a pleasant surprise to fans. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. Melanie portrayed Gwen West in Gavin & Stacey, a widowed mother with two children. But she wasn't the only star from the popular sitcom to feature in Death Valley. DS Janine's manager, DCI Barry Clarke, is played by Steffan Rhodri who starred as bus driver Dave Coaches in the BBC comedy. Fans recognised the pair and took to social media to share their surprise. One posted on X: 'Not sure I can take #DeathValley seriously what with Dave coaches as a copper & now Gwen… All we need next is Ness appearing.' Another added: 'Dave coaches and Gwen?! When is Nessa going to make an appearance?! #deathvalley.' While according to the Express, someone else penned: 'OMG Gwen and Dave Coaches!' One fan spotted Steffan in the first episode and posted: 'Lol Dave coaches #deathvalley.' Others praised the new series and gushed: 'Absolutely loving #DeathValley on BBC One. So much fun and comedy, Timothy Spall and Gwyneth Keyworth are just brilliant! Series 2 please!' Fans recognised the pair and took to social media to share their surprise, while others praised the new series However, the first instalment was hit with some backlash from viewers who last week switched off the broadcaster's new crime drama 'after five minutes' and complained 'this is absolute rubbish'. One posted on X: '#deathvalley #BBC is so dreadful on every level. The woman detective is beyond irritating and embarrassing.' 'The problems with comedy police programs like this is how they suddenly come up with such a long winded explanation of the murder without actually showing us during the program how they would come to it. #deathvalley,' another penned.
BBC News
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Hay-on-Wye festival Gavin & Stacey postbox topper vandalised
A Gavin & Stacey themed postbox topper, which appeared in Hay-on-Wye to mark an appearance by the stars of the show, has been vandalised twice in a week, its creator has said. Last week, the postbox - painted gold in honour of Paralympics discus champion Josie Pearson - was decorated with two crocheted figures of the main characters from the hit TV Corden and Ruth Jones, who wrote and starred in the show as Nessa and Smithy, were at the Hay Festival talking about their new was concern when the postbox topper disappeared this week, but its creator Reet Prendergast said it was being repaired after being damaged for a second time on Wednesday. Passers-by spotted the woolly figures of Smithy and Nessa had vanished, leaving just the two posts where they once stood and Nessa's catchphrase, "oh, what's occurring", embroidered below. Hay-on-Wye, which sits on the Powys-Herefordshire border, has become synonymous with books and its literary festival has been running since and Corden's book When Gavin met Stacey and Everything in Between: A Story of Love and Friendship, is due out in first series of Gavin & Stacey aired in 2007, but the series officially ended with a grand finale Christmas Day episode last year and became one of the most watched scripted TV shows of the century. Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
The Sun
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Watch the sweet moment Ruth Jones reunites with Neil the Baby after Gavin and Stacey finale
GAVIN and Stacey fans were given a surprise treat across the weekend with a sweet mother-son reunion live on stage. At In It Together Festival in Port Talbot, Ruth Jones made an appearance on stage much to the delight of the bank holiday revellers. 6 6 Coming on stage to introduce a mystery guest, Ruth – famed for playing Nessa Shanessa Jenkins on the BBC favourite – managed to get an extra surprise in herself. Walking on to the Gavin and Stacey theme song Run by Stephen Fretwell, Ruth beamed as the crowd screamed for her after a countdown. She blew kisses to the audience before the Porthcawl native switched into Nessa mode, belting out her iconic 'Ohhhh, what's occurrin'?' Ruth then joked 'I don't really speak like that you know', putting on a mock posh voice. But the best was yet to come when she brought out on stage Neil The Baby – reuniting with her on-screen son (played by Oscar Hartland). The young musician was already performing at the festival with his band Redwood City, but swung by the main stage in order to give fans a treat alongside his fake mum. The pair shared an adorable hug on stage as he ran at her with his arms wife open, swooping her in for a cuddle. 'My son!' she beamed. 'Are you singing? Isn't he amazing! He takes after his mother, he does.' Oscar egged on the crowd, saying hello to them and encouraging them to cheer. She ended her stint on stage by answering a question about the infamous and mysterious events of the Gavin and Stacey fishing trip, joking: 'I don't know, I wasn't there!' The quick stint on stage ended with the introduction of The Greatest Showman star Keala Settle. In It Together Festival is a family event in Port Talbot, with Kaiser Chiefs, Becky Hill and Ronan Keating coming on stage as this year's headliners. The sweet moment comes just five months after the official end of Gavin and Stacey, which ended the tale of the Billericay and Barry collective. 6 6 In the final episode - which was watched by 19million people - fans finally saw Neil the Baby's parents, Nessa and Smithy (played by James Corden) tie the knot, with the family all getting their happy ending on Christmas Day. She later picked up a Bafta for the finale episode for her portrayal of the bolshy truck driver and arcade manager. After the win, Ruth teased that she and James Corden - who co-created and wrote Gavin and Stacey with her - could be set for something new. She said: 'I love working with James Corden, I really do, and I hope that we will carry on working together. 'I think we will. We will, because we just both, like, sort of sitting in a room together. We do a lot of napping, but we do write as well when we get going and, yeah, I just love working with him.' In the meantime, she's set to star in new Netflix drama, Run Away, which is currently being filmed. 6 6
BBC News
24-05-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Gavin & Stacey motors join Hampshire on-screen icons display
Three iconic cars from Gavin & Stacey have joined an exhibition of memorable film and TV blue Citroën Saxo VTS, which he used to drive between Essex and Barry Island in Wales, and Smithy's Volvo 850S Estate have gone on display at Beaulieu, the home of the National Motor the trio at the refurbished On Screen Cars exhibition in Hampshire is Uncle Bryn's reliable Citroën Xsara Picasso, which the character promised he would drive "until the day I die".The hit sitcom, created by James Corden and Ruth Jones, officially ended with a grand finale Christmas Day episode last year. The show began in 2007 and followed the story of a girl from south Wales and a boy from Essex who fell in love, and the ups and downs of their worlds Citroën Saxo was a recurring presence and is a "nostalgic nod to early noughties car culture" for fans of the show and motoring in general, said Beaulieu. Smithy's Volvo was used for his job as a handyman in Billericay, Essex, and bore the slogan "If your husband won't do it – I will…" on the will also remember it as the backdrop to Smithy's 2008 Christmas special rendition of Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas?.It also featured in a sketch for Comic Relief in 2011, when James Corden, in character as Smithy, transported singer George Michael to the studio in the first ever Carpool for Uncle Bryn's Picasso, there were three models used during the series - the one on display at Beaulieu featured in series three cars join a list of other memorable vehicles in the exhibition, including the bewitched blue Ford Anglia from Harry Potter and the Chambers of Secrets, Del Boy's Reliant van from Only Fools and Horses, James Bond's Jaguar XKR from Die Another Day and Mr Bean's Mini. You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
