Joanna Page: 'New 'Gavin and Stacey' script made me cry'

Gavin and Stacey star Joanna Page has said the cast reunion for the much-loved comedy show was ‘so emotional’ and admits the script made her cry.

Show writers James Corden and Ruth Jones revealed last month the comedy was returning for a one-hour special to be aired Christmas Day.

Read more: Gavin & Stacey return will be ‘nostalgic joy-bomb’, says James Corden

Last week Corden tweeted a photo of the cast at the script read-through, and Page has revealed the first day was emotional for those involved.

She told the Daily Star Sunday: “When we had the read-through, I walked in and it was so emotional.

“I hadn’t seen so many of the cast for so many years.

“I kept touching everybody’s face and saying, ‘Oh my goodness, it’s you – I’ve missed you so much’.

“Then we sat down to read the script and it was like we’d never been away. We all came together like a big ­family. It was really lovely. We had a right laugh.”

42-year-old Page went on to say fans of the show ‘will love’ the Christmas special.

She said: “The script is brilliant. It’s really good. It made me cry, it made me laugh and it made me think, ‘I just want to spend Christmas with this family’.

“I think fans will love it. It’s quite nostalgic, but it also feels quite modern and funny.”

The actress, who plays Stacey to Mathew Horne’s Gavin, added: “We start filming it in a couple of weeks and I can’t wait to get started.

“Fingers crossed when everybody has eaten their Christmas dinner, and they’re so stuffed that they can’t move, they’ll tune in.”

Read more: James Corden: 'We have to keep talking about Grenfell'

Talking about the return of the show, Corden, recently told The Sunday Times Culture magazine: “We owed it to the characters. We wanted to see if there was something there, and for a while we weren’t sure.

“Then, once there was, my feeling was, life’s too short. Fear is the absolute reason to do it. We just want the new show to be a nostalgic joy-bomb.”

Gavin and Stacey ran for three series between 2007 and 2010, with a Christmas special in between the second and third series. It made household names of Corden, who played Smithy, and Ruth Jones, who played Smithy’s off-again-on-again lover, Nessa.