Alison Steadman was "so sad" when ‘Gavin and Stacey’ ended.
Alison Steadman is desperate to return to Gavin and Stacey
The 77-year-old actress played Pamela Shipman, Gavin’s (Mathew Horne) mother and Stacey Shipman’s (Joanna Page) mother-in-law in the BBC Three sitcom, and has admitted that after shooting 2019 Christmas special, the whole cast and crew were in tears together.
During an interview with The Daily Mirror newspaper, she said: “I have to say it is the only show I have ever worked on where when we finished each character’s final scenes like, ‘That’s a wrap for Alison Steadman’.
“Everyone used to put their heads down and cry as we were so sad it was over. It was such a good experience for everyone. I think the magic of the series was that everyone loved each other and the audience loves that.”
Alison admitted that she was “thrilled to bits” when she was cast as Pamela, and she hopes that Ruth Jones and James Corden, who play Nella and Smithy, will return to their writers’ desk and pen another episode.
She said: “Pamela was a great part to play. I was thrilled to bits when I was given that role. I just knew this was going to be good.”
The actress also recalled meeting Joanna and Mathew for the first time, and emphasised that she knew they were going to be “perfect” in their roles.
She said: “Joanna came running over to me going, ‘Hiya, my name is Jo and I am playing Stacey’. “I looked at her and thought, ‘You are perfect’. Then I saw Matt and the two of them together were perfect. It was brilliantly cast.”
Recently, Joanna revealed that her on-screen father-in-law Mick Shipman (Larry Lamb) had faked the piano scene in the 2008 Christmas special, as the actor could not play the instrument at all.
Speaking to The Sun newspaper, she said: “Larry had piano lessons but it made no difference because he was absolutely dreadful at playing the keyboard. If you look closely at the end, he’s not actually touching the keys - his hands are hovering over them.”
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