Johnny: “Sian came to me for diet advice!”
Closer’s Hannah Wright catches up with Car Share’s Sian Gibson and her new co-star Johnny Vegas as they talk health kicks, Spanx and hula hoops
A petite-looking Sian Gibson A relaxes back in her chair, chuckling as her co-star Johnny Vegas chats about his dramatic weight loss – and how he was the one dishing out diet tips to Sian on the set of Agatha Christie spoof murder mystery Death On The Tyne.
“I’m trying to get my weight down and I’ve been dodging carbs,” explains Benidorm star Johnny, who weighed 18st at his heaviest and is now on a health kick, having already dropped 3st. “Sian was coming to me for diet advice, I mean – who comes to Johnny Vegas for diet advice?” he laughs.
Sian, 42 – who shot to fame alongside close friend Peter Kay in the BBC hit Car Share – giggles, “I had to keep smuggling things from the food cart, so Johnny didn’t see. I usually put on loads of weight when I’m filming, and because I have to wear a ball gown in this, I said I’d only put it on if I could wear Spanx. Though, by day two, I just let it all hang out – and it stank, because I was in it for four weeks and we filmed in July during the heatwave!”
Johnny, 48, adds that he has a surprising plan to keep trim, announcing, “I’d like to get back into skipping. In this job you can take a skipping rope anywhere, you don’t need a gym membership…”
“What did I just hear?!” shrieks Sian. “When were you into skipping? Get a hula hoop. I like hula-hooping. It’s good for your waist, apparently…”
The feature-length Death On The Tyne on UK TV channel Christmas Gold – a follow-up to last year’s hugely successful Murder On The Blackpool Express – boasts an all-star cast, including Sue Johnston and Vicar Of Dibley star James Fleet. It sees Johnny and Sian as coach workers Terry and Gemma, who are investigating why their passengers on a Newcastle to Amsterdam cruise keep mysteriously dying one by one.
Sian admits, “When I watched the whole thing I got the killer completely wrong. I did read the script, but I forgot what happened. I’d genuinely forgotten who did it!”
And on getting a second series, Sian adds, “I was chuffed to be working with Johnny again – and this year we’ve got James Fleet in a captain’s outfit. We were all in love with him a bit, and it was so much fun to film!”