Gavin & Stacey’s Ruth Jones Wishes She Was More Like Nessa

Ruth Jones has admitted that when she feels nervous, the TV star tries to be more like her Gavin and Stacey character Nessa Jenkins.

“What I love about Nessa is that she doesn’t care what other people think,” Jones told the BBC during the first Gavin & Stacey finale.

“I wish I could be a little more like that in real life. I love her frankness. If I’m feeling nervous about something, I often channel my inner Nessa so I can say, ‘Oh, my love, back off.’ “

Jones will play Nessa for the last time in the feature film Gavin & Stacey, Christmas Day finale on BBC One at 9:00 p.m. GMT.

“I love playing her, I really do,” Jones added. “I love her life story and the things she did, which are pretty phenomenal.”

Gavin & Stacey debuted in 2007 on BBC Three and, as well as co-creating the series with James Corden, Jones has starred as Nessa ever since.

Nessa – famous for saying “Oh! », “What is happening? and “Tidy” – worked in a variety of professions, including truck driver, BBC producer and goalkeeping coach at Coventry City.

Mathew Horne and Joanna Page play the title roles of Gavin and Stacey – and Page, who plays Nessa’s on-screen best friend, admitted to being nervous on returning to the iconic role for the final show.

“It was quite intimidating at first,” she told the BBC.

“I said to my mom before we started, ‘oh my God, I first played Stacey when I was 29. I’m in my 40s now, I have four kids, does I’ll be able to play this bubbly?’ Another energetic and fun character?

“I’m still exactly the same as I was when I was 17, so yeah. There was a slight feeling of ‘oh my God, am I going to play it differently?’ but then, my God, meeting the gang, coming back to the set, laughing and coming back to where we all are in the family – it was just wonderful.”

The upcoming finale sees Gavin, Stacey, Smithy and Nessa get back together one last time – after the Christmas Special 2019 ended with Jones’ character, Nessa, proposing to Smithy, played by Corden.

“It might sound completely absurd, but we don’t really feel like we’re responsible for writing it,” Corden said.

“I feel like we just have to be together and we kind of open a portal and the characters come in and they tell us what they want everyone to know.”