Gavin and Stacey’s Joanna Page reveals she ‘couldn’t stop crying’ as she reveals emotional final moments filming show
GAVIN and Stacey star Joanna Page has opened up about her emotional state while she and her co-stars filmed the last ever instalment of the hit BBC sitcom.
Speaking to EastEnders’ star Natalie Cassidy on their podcast Off the Telly, Joanna, 47, admitted that returning to Barry one last time for the Christmas Special was so moving that she just couldn’t stop crying.
The actor said playing her character Stacey Shipman and returning to her and Gavin’s (Mathew Horne) iconic TV homes for the last time brought back so many memories, as it was like returning home from college for holidays.
“The last ever time on Trinity Street, I was crying,” Joanna revealed, admitting the emotion of filming the final scenes for the Christmas Special completely overwhelmed her.
“And the last ever, ever time in Stacey’s house that she grew up in. In Stacey’s house, in Gwen’s house the last ever, ever time,” she added.
Joanna explained that she was hit with a wave of emotion when she entered the West family home for the final time as she pictured all the scenes that had ever been filmed in that living room.
“It was amazing. It brings back so many memories,” she said.
“You know when you go off to drama school or university and you come home for Christmas back to your house and you come back and you look around and it’s like ‘Oh, I’m home again.’
“You know, when it’s painful because it’s got so many memories and it’s so raw. I was thinking about when Stacey was going ‘foot together, next together, foot together,’ you’re trying to teach Nessa how to go down the aisle.
“And then when Stacey came in trying on different black business jackets before her work meeting.
“Oh my God, and the first time I sat down at the table to eat an omelette,” she recalled of the many iconic Gavin and Stacey scenes from over the years.
Joanna admitted that she was in floods of tears by the end of the day.
Once filming ended, the cast stepped back out onto Trinity Street one final time, where they were met by crowds of fans who had been out supporting them all day.
“And as I was walking up, oh my God, tears were just streaming, falling down the outside of my eyes, just falling down, I had no control over it.
“And I just remember looking at them, the sun was setting, and then we said goodbye and then I remember turning around to walk back to the car and looking back and just thinking ‘wow, I’ll never experience this again, all of this love from everyone, and all of this support, and this amazing experience, and the love I feel for all of the cast, I’ll never, ever have this again.’
“And I just got in the car and was just crying.
Gavin and Stacey's Best Moments
With the news that the show is set to make an exciting return to screens, let's take a look at some of the comedy programme's biggest and best moments...
- Smithy and Rudi’s American Boy rap – No one will ever forget when James Corden and Sheridan Smith rapped perfectly word for word the Kanye West and Estelle hit American Boy as they walked across the car park on the phone to Gavin.
- Pam’s Vegetarian faux pas – Despite loving a cheesburger, Pam found herself caught up in a web of unexpected lies when she claimed to be Vegetarian. She is forced to keep up the secret throughout the entire show and uses hubby Mick to help her scoff meat. She is later rumbled when Stacey catches her in the act as she scoffs ham in the kitchen. Stacey says to her: “Is that ham, Pam!?… “I’ve seen you, Pam. A scotch egg here, a bit of bacon there, putting those regular sausages into the Linda McCartney box”.
- THAT fishing trip – It remains one of the biggest mysteries in Gavin and Stacey history as to just exactly what did happen on the ill-fated fishing trip. Bryn appears to be hiding a secret as to an occurance between him and his nephew Jason which has left relations fractures. Ness’ on-off boyfriend, Dave, is the only other person to know the whole truth. Bryn did appear to allude to him and Jason lying together naked to keep warm as he said to Dave: “We’re going to have this out, once and for all, man to man, you may know what happened, David, but you don’t know why it happened! It was freezing cold, it was! And when you are that cold…”
- Islands in the Stream – No one can ever forget the classic Karaoke performance of Islands in the Stream. Nessa and Bryn performed the track in front of all their nearest and dearest. It saw the whole pub burst into some line-dancing as they enjoyed a boozy night out.
- The Xmas special proposal – In 2019, fans were left overjoyed when the show made a comeback but it ended on the ultimate cliffhanger. Nessa asked Smithy if she would marry him as she finally laid bare her feelings for him. Fans were gutted as the show then cut straight to the credits as they never found out just how Smithy answered. Will all be revealed in the brand new episode?
“I think I spent most of my flipping time crying,” Joanna admitted. “We are all like a big family and it just does for you. You just feel it so, just, raw.”
But, in between all the emotional moments on set, the Gavin and Stacey cast managed to do what they do best – have a laugh.
“And in amongst all of that, you’ve just got flashes of utter hysteria where I’m just laughing at everybody because they’re all just so funny.”
While speaking on her podcast, Joanna also revealed that each of the cast members were allowed to take a little souvenir.
She explained: “Throughout the day we were walking around and they said we could take a little memento type thing.
“And so I was thinking ‘Ok, what am I going to steal,’ and they said ‘you don’t need to steal, just tell us what it is that you want.’
“So I chose a little thing, then I ended up choosing two things, ‘I think I might take this little picture,’ and then there was a little ornament vase type thing which I said ‘I’d just like to take that as well.’ Just two little things to remind me.”
The upcoming Gavin and Stacey special will hit screens on Christmas Day.
While addressing the cast, crew, and fans who were gathered in Barry for the final day of filming, co-writer and star Ruth Jones promised that viewers “won’t be disappointed” by the sitcom’s final ever instalment.
Over the past several weeks, the cast and crew have been spotted filming several exciting scenes including what looks to be a wedding – possibly Smithy and Nessa’s following on from the cliffhanger proposal in 2019 – and Nessa’s hen do.
For the finale, fans expect to see the main cast back together. This includes Joanna, Ruth alongside James Corden, Mathew Horne, Larry Lamb, Alison Steadman, Melanie Walters, Rob Brydon, Julia Davis and Adrian Scarborough.