Joanna Page: Centre stage

Gavin and Stacey star Joanna Page is currently treading the boards in Neil Bute’s Fat Pig. Georgina Fuller finds out what’s next for East Dulwich’s girl next door

Above: Joanna Page (second from right) in hit comedy Gavin and Stacey. Courtesy Babycow Productions

The eponymous star of the Bafta-award winning TV show Gavin and Stacey greets me in her dressing gown looking somewhat bedraggled and squinting into the sunlight. The tiny figure that stands before me seems, at first glance, quite different from the feisty blonde she plays in the hit series.

“I’m sorry I look such a state but I was out last night with the cast from the play. I’ve got no idea how much I had to drink or how I got home,” she explains.

Her current co-stars, Robert Webb (the irascible Jeremy from Peep Show and That Mitchell and Webb Look comedy series) and Kris Marshall (of the BT adverts and My Family) clearly know how to have a good time. All are currently acting in Fat Pig, a West End production by Neil Bute, about a man who falls in love with a woman who happens to be on the large size.

“My character is obsessed with looks and money and she can’t believe that her boyfriend has dumped her to go out with this overweight girl,” Joanna says. “The story is about whether this guy is going to stand up for what he believes in and follow his heart or give in to his friends.”

She loves being in a West End show but finds she still gets incredibly nervous while waiting in the wings.

“It’s fantastic to be on stage and feel everyone getting involved and reacting to what you’re saying. The audience are with you all the way. It’s still really nerve-wracking though and pretty tiring. I’m usually glad to come home afterwards.”

Home is a spacious yet cosy terrace house in East Dulwich which Joanna and her husband, actor James Thornton from Holby Blue, bought five years ago. Joanna is a big fan of the area and loves living near Lordship Lane.

“Dulwich is the only place in London I’ve lived where I actually feel really at home. It’s quite like the Mumbles in Swansea where I grew up and has such a lovely village atmosphere. I know pretty much all of the shopkeepers’ names,” she says.

She previously lived in Wandsworth while her husband had a flat in East Dulwich. They decided it would be a good investment to buy in such an “up-and-coming” area.

“I’d never been to East Dulwich before I met James and it wasn’t at all how it is now when we first moved here. There were lots of shops being closed down and it was quite rough round the edges. But now there are so many lovely new boutiques and cafes opening up. It’s a great place to live.”

Joanna starts filming the Christmas special of Gavin and Stacey next month and is looking forward to seeing the rest of the crew again. The show, written by co-stars James Corden and Ruth Jones, is essentially a love story about a Welsh girl and an Essex boy.

Its success is largely down to a very well written script and a brilliant cast who share a remarkable rapport. It’s a situation comedy and the locations – Barry versus Billericay – are almost as important as the characters.

As the first series unravelled, Gavin, played by Matthew Horne (The Catherine Tate Show) struggled to keep his mother (Alison Steadman), best friend Smithy (Corden) and new wife Stacey happy. Not to mention Stacey’s terrifying best friend (Jones) and sexually repressed uncle (Rob Bryden).

Joanna knew she desperately wanted to play Stacey the moment she read the script: “I thought, ‘if someone else gets this role I’ll die’! I am this character. I haven’t been engaged six times, but apart from that we’re very similar. I’m quite feisty and ditzy like Stacey. She’s so innocent and naïve and also a bit dirty and that’s just like me!”

Her down-to-earth attitude is perhaps best demonstrated by some of her previous roles, such as playing the naked body double in Love Actually with Martin Freeman (known to most as Tim from The Office).

“I remember reading the script and thinking ‘I wonder which poor sod’s going to have to do that part’, then my agent called up and said they wanted to see me for it!” she laughs.

Joanna’s modesty was covered by sticky tape and golden triangles but she says she doesn’t have a serious issue doing nude scenes.

“It’s quite easy being naked and innocent. It’s much harder trying to be naked and sexy but with Martin [Freeman] it was easy because we could talk about Christmas shopping and stuff.”

Though the cast had a great time filming Gavin and Stacey, they seemed unaware that the audience loved watching it just as much and revelled in winning the Sky+ Audience Award for Programme of the Year at this year’s Baftas.

“When we were first nominated I just couldn’t believe it. Then, when we won, we all went mad with excitement! We knew we were doing something good but I really wasn’t expecting it to be such a huge success.”

And while keen to do a third series, Joanna doesn’t think Corden and Jones will write it unless it can live up to the first and second. In the meantime, however, she seems fairly relaxed and typically good-humoured about the future.

“I’d love it if we did another series of Gavin and Stacey but after that, I’ve no idea. I’ll probably become a married housewife,” she laughs.

Fat Pig runs until 22 November at the Comedy Theatre, Panton Street SW1Y 4DN; 0870 060 6637; www.fatpigtheplay.com

Watch an interview with Joanna and the original cast of Fat Pig: