ALISON STEADMAN
Why I wept filming Gavin & Stacey
SHE IS one of our best-loved actresses, most famous for playing hostess Beverly in Abigail’s Party and the even more monstrous Mrs Bennet in Pride And Prejudice. But Alison Steadman admits that reprising the role of Pamela Shipman in Gavin & Stacey is the one she’s been most nervous about in her long and glittering career.
The award-winning sitcom – charting the romance of an Essex boy and a girl from South Wales and their families – returns to TV on Christmas Day after a nine-year absence.
In the final scene, which aired in 2010, Gavin Shipman (Mathew Horne) and a pregnant Stacey (Joanna Page) were sitting on the seafront at Barry Island. With them were his best friend Smithy (James Corden) who had dramatically halted the wedding of her pal Nessa (Ruth Jones) to another man.
Fast forward to 2019 and the whole clan are gathered once again to celebrate Christmas in Barry with a stressed-out Uncle Bryn (Rob Brydon) in charge of the turkey – and Pamela is a grandmother.
“I was incredibly nervous about reprising the role of Pam because my hair is so different. I am a bit older and fatter and I kept thinking to myself, ‘Can I get the Essex voice back, can I get into character and will I remember the lines’,” admits Alison, who turned 73 this year.
“My memory is not what it was and as you get older your brain gets slower.You have to work much, much harder on your lines and it’s boring. Instead of being able to learn them in a day, it takes me a week – but I was determined to do it.
“We had a couple of rehearsals and, as soon as I got Pam’s sparkly jumper and leggings on, it felt so good to be back in the Gavin & Stacey world. By the time we got to Cardiff to film, I was on track again.
“It was like a family getting back together and when I was standing next to Larry (Lamb) who plays my husband Mick and James (Smithy) walked in the room it all came flooding back. Ultimately it was all there to be brought down from the shelf.”
When a sitcom is as fondly etched in our memories as Gavin & Stacey, reviving it a decade later could be considered a risk. But the Christmas special does not disappoint.
In the one-off show, we find Pamela fretting about spending Christmas in Barry because Stacey’s mum Gwen has towels that are “like drying yourself with Ryvita”.
But Alison couldn’t be more different from Pamela in real life.
She said: “The only thing I have in common with Pam is that I love family and I’m very close to my darling partner, two gorgeous sons and a grandson. But I’m not like Pamela at all, who is totally over the top.
“She wants to be in Essex in her big house this Christmas but she is having to go to Gwen’s house.
“Pam’s house is perfect but Gwen is one of those people who doesn’t like to change things – including her towels.”
Since the last episode of the hit
BBC sitcom Stacey has had three children, just like her actress Joanna Page.
And Alison, like Pam, has become a devoted grandmother to a twoyear-old grandson.
“I wasn’t a grandmother then and I was desperate to become one,” she reveals.
“My eldest son Toby had a little boy called Freddie just over two years ago and I’m very much the doting grandmother.
“I love the fact that I only live 20 minutes away from him and I go around as much as I can. I always take him a gingerbread man.
“I don’t think my sons are having more yet – well not as far as I know – but a mother-in-law doesn’t ask things like that.
“It’s entirely their business but I’m delighted with Freddie. He’s the light of my life, he really is.”
Alison was married to director Mike Leigh for nearly 30 years. She had two sons, Toby, now 41, and Leo, 38 by him.
She has been with her current partner, Welsh actor Michael Elwyn, for the past two decades. They have not had children.
“I cherished the time when my two boys were small,” admits Alison. “I would have loved more children and I could easily have had four. But sadly it wasn’t to be.
“I was 31 when Toby was born and 35 when I had Leo and I was trying to keep my career going. I didn’t want that to disappear.
“As an actor it’s difficult to take five or six years out, so to have another child or even two would have been a lot to keep going and keep working. Some people can do it but I just felt that I couldn’t.”
ALISON is incredibly close to her on-screen son Mathew Horne, who plays Gavin, and is very protective of him. “Mat is my little prince and if he’s in a show, I’ll always go and see it.We don’t see one another that often but we text one another and I love him.”
On the night of the election, Mathew took to Twitter to call BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg, a “disingenuous plopcarpet”.
He quickly apologised to Laura, who graciously accepted and admitted looking forward to the Gavin & Stacey special.
“I don’t do tweeting and twittering and I didn’t see it so I can’t really comment,” says Alison. “People can say what they want but it’s great she’s looking forward to seeing the Christmas special and it was nice of her to say so. She’s in for a treat.”
And while her alter-ego Pam may be a fan of all things sparkly, Alison has a very different take on it.
Along with singers Alesha Dixon, Una Healy and Louise Redknapp, Alison is urging people to buy their sparkly party wear second-hand and hand it to Oxfam after the festivities.
According to research, 1.7 million sequinned pieces of clothing and
accessories will end up in landfill by January 2. And as most sequins are plastic, they will languish there for hundreds of years to come.
To highlight the problem, Alison, who is a keen birdwatcher and patron of charity RSPB, has donated a shimmering top she wore to the Gavin & Stacey wrap party in 2010.
“I don’t like this idea that young girls buy clothes and then buy something else because they think, ‘Oh, I don’t like it now’, and chuck it. It’s just horrendous.
“I’ve been thinking about the environment for years but since becoming a grandmother it’s become even more heightened.
“The world is getting scary as far as plastic and pollution are concerned.
“Freddie is so innocent and everything he looks at he grins and points at.
“He tries to talk and it is so joyful to be with him. But it [the world] is all such a mess. It makes me shudder.”
Alison is looking forward to Christmas. “The plan is to go to my son’s house, who will be cooking a meal with all the trimmings, and we always go and see Michael’s sister on Boxing Day and then we will have some friends over for New Year’s Eve.” But beforehand, Alison will be watching the Gavin & Stacey special on Christmas day. The cast has created a WhatsApp group to provide a live running commentary. “I’ll be honest with you, I think it’s the only show I’ve ever done when everyone cried on their final shot,” she admits.
“When they shouted out, ‘Ladies and gentleman, this is a final wrap for Alison Steadman’ everyone applauded, bowed their heads and I burst into tears.
“We all thought we would never do it again because James moved to Hollywood to front The Late Late Show and has become a dad, and Ruth has been writing a novel, but they eventually found time.” She adds: “But there was a real sense of mourning when I had to put Pamela to bed because there’s no plans for any more episodes. “It does end on a cliffhanger so fans will no doubt be desperate for another instalment. But will there be? Obviously there is room for it to move on.
“So all I’ll say for now is, who knows?”
Alison laughs: “Builders shout out, ‘Pamelaaah’ in the street. But it always puts the biggest smile on my face and that says it all.”