Nessa: ' What’s Occurring?'

A1 Sarah: This week’s blog Nessa.

Nessa: ‘Oh.. Tidy’

A1 Sarah: It’s gonna be a real belter.

Nessa: ‘I know..…I feels it’

Yes… we have all been re-living those Gavin and Stacey days here at A1 VOX this week.

The gorgeous Joanna Page paid us a visit and the likeness between her and Stacey is uncanny. At points I had to stop myself from asking how Nessa, Gav and Smithy were doing.

Gavin:(On the phone) Babe, where are you. You just walked off?


Stacey: I know, but there was this woman next to me in a veil, fiddling with her shoe and I thought "oh my god" terrorist.


Gavin: Oh right so your just gonna leave me here to get bombed?


Stacey: I know and I do feel bad but I was going to text you.

I’m sure Joanna wouldn’t do this to real life hubby and actor James Thornton of Emmerdale fame, so we will just say, that like her on-screen persona, Joanna is refreshingly childlike in her enthusiasm. We even got the occasional high-pitched giggle out of her.

Joanna graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 1998. She appeared in From Hell, Mine All Mine, Love Actually and Miss Julie as well as several productions at the Royal National Theatre. She even starred as Mark Owen’s love interest in his music video for “Making Out”. Take That!

But it was playing the role of ditzy, yet lovable, Welsh Stacey, that propelled her into the limelight.

“I’ve always been in work but I’ve never been famous. I’ve just carried on doing my job. So, you know, suddenly to reach this age and be famous, I can’t take it seriously”

Bless her little Welsh cottons.

Joanna’s next project is for Sky1 HD in a brand new six part comedy titled Gates. It aims to explore the funnier side of school life for parents and kids alike.

Keeping Joanna company are Sue Johnston (The Royale Family) and Tom Ellis (Miranda).

Gates casts an eye on how relationships with parents formed during fifteen minutes of a school drop off and pick up can so easily take over your life. Let’s face it those gates can be an unforgiving, socially exposed, and political minefield. Sign me up to the firing squad over that any day of the week!

Joanna says:

“I’m so excited to begin filming with such a fantastic cast on Gates. As soon as I read the scripts I could completely identify with my character Helen, and I’m looking forward to the world of the school run and the games and mayhem that go with it. Tom Ellis is a hunk of a husband to be working opposite and my maternal instincts are being brought out working with my adorable daughter”

Do we hear the tiny pitter patter of feet…..could life be imitating art??? If so I hope she doesn’t invite Nessa over to help bathe the bouncing baby:

Nessa (in bath): Oh Stace, will you do my back?

Stacey: Yes

Nessa: The razor's by the sink.

So from a popular female comedy icon to one of the male variety. Enter Mr Dean Lennox Kelly of Shameless fame, (Kev Ball the Gallaghers’ barman neighbour).

Dean has been mentioned on the blog before but we have never been able to grab a piccie of him as he is always flitting here, there and everywhere. This visit he actually took offense that we didn’t have a picture of him on our wall of fame, and hadn’t asked him for one before. Tsk…actors!

So here it is. A ‘do I look devastatingly handsome in this moustache’ shot. Answer – Yes, oh be still my beating heart!

The ‘tache’ is for his latest role, in which he has to age up to 20 years.

‘My paunch sag will help – I’ll slowly release my stomach muscles during the play to show the ageing process’ quips Dean.

Dean plays warm-hearted patriarch Frank Gibbons in a Peter Hall Company revival of Noel Coward’s This Happy Breed, a portrait of the playwright’s lower-class suburban origins between the wars.

Dean feels this is his most challenging role yet, since it was originally played by none other than Noel Coward himself, both on stage and screen. A daunting prospect I would proffer!

Dean says of the play:

“It’s like the original soap – it’s a slice of life. It’s moving and witty with real depth because everything has been influenced by the First World War”

Apart from his dramatics, Dean says that family is everything to him, but he’s done so many love scenes over the years that there have been plenty of opportunities for other women to inspect the chest rug that Eugenie (his wife) nicknames ‘the Forest of Dean’.

“Since having kids, I’m a bit more concerned about taking my clothes off and being crude”.

AHHH God damn it!!!!!

A1 VOX NEWS

Andy Stanson has run off to his second home in Crete for the school summer holidays - the lucky bugger. I received an e-mail from Andy last week telling me how much he was enjoying his extended holiday, which is often accompanied by an ice cold Mythos beer (Grrrrrrr).

However it isn’t all R and R for Mr Stanson as he has also been doing some volunteering with Archelon, a Greek conservation charity which is dedicated to preserving the endangered Loggerhead turtle.

He has been monitoring nests along the local beaches and even took part in a nest excavation one evening to help some baby turtles out to the sea which he says was fascinating and exceptionally moving. Esme, Andy’s daughter, absolutely loved it and gave them all names as they made their way down the beach. A memory she will never forget I am sure.

Charles has been gracing the airwaves on BBC Radio Oxford for the last week or so. You can catch him there until this Wednesday morning, though you will have to be an early bird to listen in as he starts at 5am and finishes at 7am! This along with A1 VOX and Radio 2 duties plus running the bus company mean Mr Nove is in somewhat of a weird funk right now. In his words:

“The bounce is definitely out of my bungee!”

He is a trooper and a first class broadcasting pro – we salute you Charles.

Lastly we would like to say a big Congrats to our very own Mark Straker and his gorgeous new wife Willow who after a successful wedding in Vienna spent this weekend with their nearest and dearest by having a party in the park. I am sure the champers was flowing and that kiddies and adults alike had a fab time – WELL DONE GUYS!

LONDON NEWS

Visit Sweden is transforming Soho Square into a little piece of Swedish heaven from 24^th August - 26^th August.

The three-day event will feature a picnic and pop up parlour serving Fika, the Swedish equivalent to high tea. However, instead of Earl Grey, special blend Lila coffee is served accompanied by 7 different flavoured cookies.

These will be served by world-famous chocolatier and pastry chef Jan Hedh, who will be aided by a team of traditionally dressed old ladies!

All sounds pretty bonkers to me but that is the beauty of Soho – Anything Goes!

So that pretty much wraps up another week at your favourite sunny studio. Join us next week for more fun and frolics as we all look forward to the final bank holiday of the year!