Natalie Cassidy wants a cameo in the rumoured 'Gavin and Stacey' Christmas special but her new podcast partner Joanna Page won't tell her if it is even happening.
Natalie Cassidy and Joanna Page have launched their brand new podcast, Off The Telly
The 'EastEnders' legend - who has played Sonia Fowler on the BBC One soap for over 30 years on-and-off - has teamed up with Joanna, 46, for brand new podcast ‘Off the Telly’ on which the two TV stars discuss what they have been watching on the box.
Natalie, 40, is as excited as the British public at the prospect of new 'Gavin and Stacey' in 2024 and thinks she would be perfect for a small role but Joanna - who plays the titular Stacey Shipman in the sitcom - won't even give her a hint that it is happening.
When quizzed on if she's going to ask Joanna if she can get her a part, Natalie answered: "I’m trying to squeeze it out of her. She’s not telling me, she says she doesn't know anything. Listen, if it happens, if it comes round, I’ll be saying, ‘I can be in that for five minutes for sure.’"
The pair ended up launching the pod together when Natalie was a guest on ITV's 'Loose Women' and Jonna was on the panel, and after hitting it off the new venture was born.
Speaking to BANG Showbiz, Natalie said: "I had been chatting to BBC Sounds for quite a while, about six months or so. It was BBC Sounds idea to do a TV review kind of show which is for the masses, 'Gogglebox' style, you watch the telly and have a chat about it. We were going backwards and forwards with different ideas of who I could do it with and I was a guest on 'Loose Women' and Joanna was one of the Loose Women. I had never met her before and we did the show and had a good chat and a nag about the kids and what have you and we just really hit it off. So I just slipped her name in and said, ‘I think Joanna Page would be excellent.’ We did a pilot and here we are.”
Natalie admits Saturday night is the big television watching evening in her house because she likes to settle down with her two daughters, Eliza, 13, from an earlier relationship, and seven-year-old Joanie, her child with her fiancé, cameraman Marc Humphreys, and watch some shows as a family.
She shared: "Saturday night telly is important to me, that’s our time as a family to sit down and connect. I love 'Saturday Night Takeaway', 'Limitless Win', 'The 1% Club', 'The Wheel', 'Michael McIntyre’s Big Show', that sort of thing.
"Saturdays are really nice, after a manic week, if I’m not working and Marc’s not working it’s like right, from half past six this is family time now and we all get on the sofa. That’s a favourite time of mine.
“In terms of what I watch with Mark, 'Succession' was amazing, we watched 'Mr Bates vs The Post Office' which we loved. We’re just about to embark on 'True Detective' with Jodie Foster. I’m a scaredy cat though. I’m happy to watch 'MasterChef' and 'Grand Designs' if I’m honest."
Natalie has high hopes for the pod and believes that she and Joanna can build a community with whom they can share their viewing recommendations and go on for season after season.
She said: "I think what’s brilliant is that telly is on all the time and you’re never going to run out of things to talk about. I do love the fact that it’s half an hour because I love pods and I listen to lots of different ones, I think for TV viewing which is not high brow, I hope that people can be out getting their weekly shop and it can be half an hour and it’s a little bitesize look into what we’ve been watching. We can ask the listeners what they’re watching and they can let us know. So we’re hoping to build a little community so we give the listeners what they want."
Natalie Cassidy and Joanna Page’s brand-new podcast ‘Off the Telly’ is available on BBC Sounds now.
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