‘I’d be more than happy if they did Christmas specials every year until the end of time’
Joanna Page chats to Kathryn Williams about Gavin & Stacey, home-schooling and her new radio show...
BEING a titular character in a show that’s as popular as Gavin & Stacey, you’d think that star Joanna Page might get fed up of the enthusiastic fans and constant questions about whether it will return ever again.
She’s not. An easy interview, the 43-year-old talks non-stop, like her famous alter-ego, though, by her own admission she’s way more laid back than Stacey.
So I ask the obvious – would she be happy to do more of Barry-based comedy hit Gavin & Stacey?
“Oh God, yeah, I think we all would,” she said. “If they carried on doing a special every single year for the rest of our lives we’d all be happy.
“Because it’s so well written and it’s such a lovely job, working with that group of people and watching people like Julia Davis [who plays Essex family friend Dawn Sutcliffe] doing her stuff, I just love being in scenes with these actors and having them make me laugh.
“I’d be more than happy if they did Christmas specials every year until the end of time.”
Kicking off a six-week stint presenting a radio show on BBC Radio Wales tomorrow, Joanna also cryptically teases about her first roster of guests.
She said: “I can’t say, it’s top secret. People will be very pleased and very excited!”
She then added: “If you’re fans of anything I’ve done you’d better tune in.”
In what was meant to be a busy year work-wise for the Treboeth-born actor, she has spent most of 2020 homeschooling, being kept grounded by her three children – with husband, actor James Thornton – and now swimming and enjoying Selling Sunset on Netflix.
“By the end of the six months I was exhausted!” she said, after revealing that Eva, seven, Kit, five, and threeyear-old Noah were off at school and nursery for the first time since lockdown started.
“That first morning they all went off to school was the first time in seven years I’ve had the house to myself.
“I thought I’d go to the gym, go for walks, take the dogs out for exercise – but for the first few days I sat and watched Selling Sunset on Netflix, which is amazing, and just ate. And now I’ve joined my local lido. I’m loving it.”
Without a doubt 2020 has turned many parents into teachers, but Joanna added that she eventually adopted a more relaxed approach.
“Home-schooling, oh my God, that in itself – working out Microsoft teams. I’m an actress, I use the computer only when I Google myself,” she laughed.
“Then I realise I can’t do my sevenyear-old’s maths homework, it’s just too hard. Me and my daughter were just in tears and we did that for about two weeks and I thought, ‘You know what, it’s not worth it, let’s get out in the garden.’ So we found bugs, we found two frogs, which was awesome, we picked flowers and we were outside as much as we could be.”
Getting outside was a big relief to Joanna and the family when lockdown was eased, as it enabled the five to visit the Page family home in Mumbles.
“I was born in Treboeth, but when I was 14 my aunty Iris died and we moved into her house down the Mumbles,” explained Joanna, who added that her parents, Nigel and Susan, still live there.
“But it was a house we’d always been in, my Grampa was born there, my aunty was born there and the house has been in the family for years and years.
“The kids absolutely love they’re opposite the sea.
“When lockdown was lifted we went straight down to see my parents and to see the sea and we went in swimming. Something about being in lockdown, I just wanted to swim. I wanted to dance a lot and go in the sea.
“So as soon as we got there, me and the kids went in and it was so exhilarating and so free. My dad just wanted to feed us, I was just run ragged at that point, so I just said to my dad look after us and I relaxed with a glass of wine.”
But work has also beckoned and with a few projects she can’t quite spill the beans on – apart from that she’ll be on a few TV gameshows near Christmas – the conversation sidles back to Gavin & Stacey.
Could the game show be a Family Fortunes Christmas special with the Gavin & Stacey lot? Sadly, no, but Joanna runs with the idea.
“That would be very, very funny and it there, amazing!” she exclaimed. “We’re not doing that but if we did... the Shipmans and the Wests, Christmas special. You can just imagine what Pam would be like – and what side would Gavin be on?
“Would he stick with me or would Pam pull him onto her side. Uncle Bryn would be good with all his knowledge, Mick, he’d be really laid back and so cool. Pam would be flirting with Gino (DiCampo).
“It would be really good, wouldn’t it?”
But, for now, with projects postponed until next year including the big screen release of Dream Horse, the feature film about racehorse Dream Alliance which also stars Toni Collette, fans of Joanna will have to be content with her new radio series and watching Gavin & Stacey on repeat over and over.
Does she think James Corden and Ruth Jones will find it in their hearts (and diaries) to make another?
She said: “I’ve spent 10 years saying, ‘There won’t be any more, there won’t’, so now I’m just utterly clueless.
“Are they going to surprise us with one more? I wouldn’t be surprised about that, but then I wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t any more and Ruth and James were happy with how it went and draw a line under it.”
Sunday Morning With Joanna Page will air on BBC Radio Wales at 9.30am and the series will run for six consecutive weeks.