Comedy

It’s interesting that in her first self-penned TV role – as Welsh good-time girl Nessa in ‘Gavin And Stacey’ – Ruth Jones cast herself as the bridesmaid, not the bride.

Jones has been playing the foil and the fool for many years now. Opposite Matt Lucas as lesbian barmaid Myfanwy in ‘Little Britain’, behind Julia Davis as morbid goth and accidental serial-killer beauty therapist Linda in ‘Nighty Night’ and back this week as Steve Coogan’s other-half Magz in the second outing of ‘Saxondale’. Jones though is definitively no latter-day June Whitfield. Like Whitfield she may be generous and unactressy without an egotistical scene-stealing bone in her body, but her unerring ability to turn the fourth best-line in a scene into its killer comedy moment means that no matter how keen she is to stay out of the limelight, she keeps on getting it.
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Unlike some of her past co-stars, particularly ‘Little Britain’s’ David Walliams and even Coogan himself, Jones is horrified by the idea that her sterling comic performances could inevitably propel her into the public eye. ‘I genuinely don’t seek or want fame or celebrity,’ she gasps when we chat, still clearly irritated by questions from a previous interviewer that strayed beyond her work. ‘I love to hide behind a look, hide behind an accent or a character. I went on “Today With Des And Mel” not long ago and I was petrified because it was just little old me sitting there. I only went on because I wanted to see his tan up close. But I worry that as me, as Ruth, I’m just going to make a bit of a dick of myself.’

She met Coogan for the first time at an awards bash and was offered the part of Magz on the spot. The character is quiet and gently drawn compared to some of her other creations. ‘I suppose she’s the one most like me in real life,’ she muses. ‘Although she paints feminist icons in a soft-porn style and I don’t do that, obviously.

‘They go through a few problems in this series because Tommy gets jealous about Magz’s new interests. She’s gone off to find herself and has taken up a thing called hot yoga – whatever that is – which makes him even more insecure than normal. But they’re a good match really. It’s quite a lovely relationship.’

At the same time as ‘Saxondale’ returns, ‘Gavin And Stacey’ is getting its first outing on BBC2. Raucous, a bit lewd but also warm and sweet – the show is hewn in the image of its co-creators Jones and best pal James Corden who plays best-man-to-be Smithy. ‘There was never a point where we thought we would be the main people,’ she says. ‘There is no way on God’s earth that me and James could have done kissing scenes. That would be tantamount to incest. But Nessa and Smithy come to the fore more in the second series. We have stronger storylines.’

Jones and Corden met on the set of ITV1 comedy drama ‘Fat Friends’ where they first plotted the course of ‘Gavin And Stacey’. ‘The characters had come to life before we’d even started filming. To have such a brilliant cast, like Rob Brydon and Alison Steadman [for whom they created a specific role] was better than we could ever have imagined. Considering that it started off on BBC3 I’m amazed how many people have seen it. I got a card from the warden and inmates at Park Prison in Bridgend who love it. I sent them a photo back and now I’m a prison pin-up which makes me really proud.’

And Jones, as part of the ‘Taffia’ of Welsh acting talent, is certainly still strongly connected to her roots. Brydon is another best pal, unsurprising giving that the two attended the same south Wales comprehensive and appeared in the same school shows. There must have been some happy punters at their end-of-term bonanzas.

‘He was always going to be brilliant,’ she says smiling warmly. ‘If you read any cuttings on me you’ll see that my age is listed as being all over the place. He was only two years above me, but I used to tell people he was in the sixth form when I was just starting school. But then I reached 40 recently and I thought: You idiot. I just couldn’t be arsed lying about it any more.’

As funny, self-deprecating and warm as the characters she inhibits, with the comedy world in her thrall, Ruth Jones has every reason to look forward proudly to her next decade.

Saxondale, Thurs, 9.30pm, BBC2; Gavin And Stacey, Tues, 10pm, BBC2