Gavin and Stacey’s debt to Kay Mellor

Why did Ruth Jones' dad 'burst out laughing'.

Philip Irwin 10/01/2025

3 minutes read

BACK in the year 2000, I was working at our predecessor paper the Glamorgan GEM.

The phone rang. The switchboard operator said: “A Mr Jones wants to speak to editorial.”

I took the call and Mr Jones explained that he lived in Porthcawl and that his daughter, Ruth, had been cast in a new ITV drama, due to be broadcast soon.

Mr Jones called the Glamorgan GEM and explained that he lived in Porthcawl and that his daughter is Ruth. Images: BBC /Adobe. — **| Mr Jones called the *Glamorgan GEM* about his daughter Ruth.** *Images: BBC / Adobe.*

I wasn’t a big ITV watcher so I asked for a few details and then things picked up. The writer was Kay Mellor, who was on a hot streak. Her previous two shows, Band of Gold and Playing the Field, had been big hits so it looked as if young Ruth could be in the limelight.

I asked for more details and Mr Jones said it was called Fat Friends. He explained: “It follows a group of people who become friends after joining a slimming group.”

Now, my friends and family might disagree but I do have a tactful gene. I chose my words carefully for the next question. I said: “So, as it is in a slimming class, did your daughter need to put on weight to get the part?”

Mr Jones burst out laughing and said that had not been necessary.

The show aired and was a success, running for four seasons. British-style with six episodes per season – rather than American-style, where they run to around 20 episodes in a season.

Ruth was a regular, as was a young James Corden. Another regular, playing Ruth’s mother, was Alison Steadman. Whatever happened to her?

Tequila Sunrise

Here’s a bizarre question. What’s the connection between Kay Mellor and Linda Ronstadt?

Well, back in the early 1970s, Ronstadt was a pretty big star on the West Coast country rock field. She needed to put a backing band together for a tour of the east coast and, from the large group of musicians trying to get noticed, she took a singing drummer from Texas, Don Henley, and a guitarist from Detroit, Glenn Frey.

On tour, Henley/Frey found that they got on well together, and had similar ideas when it came to songwriting. When the tour was over, they approached Ronstadt, saying they wanted to branch out and start their own group. Linda was supportive, even suggesting bassist Randy Meisner and guitarist Bernie Leadon to join them – and so The Eagles were born.

They went on to do quite well.

A similar thing happened to Ruth, James and Kay Mellor. They thought they could write a show together. James and Ruth didn’t have to quit the band, but they were able to use their time on Fat Friends to work through ideas – and this led to writing Gavin and Stacey.

Fat Friends finished in March 2005, and the first episode of Gavin and Stacey was broadcast (on BBC 3) in May 2007. It was a slow burner but took off when it transferred to BBC 1.

Smithy’s dash to Southampton to propose to Nessa. Photo: BBC. — **| Smithy’s dash to Southampton to propose to Nessa in the finale of Gavin and Stacey.** *Photo: BBC.*

The Last Resort

As a Porthcawl resident, I do encounter Porthcawl people who are a touch jealous of the publicity that Barry has had. As Ruth is a Porthcawl resident, they point out that Porthcawl has a fair too. It even has a slot machine arcade. It doesn’t have a Marco’s Café, of course, but there are a few Porthcawl people saying: “It could have been us.”

It is important to note that Ruth has supported a number of Porthcawl good causes, the highpoint being raising thousands by staging a concert in the Grand Pavilion in aid of the local RNLI.

And the truth is that it wasn’t Ruth’s idea at all. It was down to James Corden, who has said he attended a wedding in Barry Island and that was where the idea began brewing.

“It really struck me that I’d never really seen a wedding like this on TV,” he said.

“It was really these cultures coming together – very similar, and yet completely different.”

That is a telling phrase – ‘very similar, yet completely different’.

After all, Barry is a relatively young community. Around 1880, before the docks were built, Barry was little more than a village. The workforce needed to work in the new docks came from England, as well as Wales, so it is reasonable to say that visitors from Essex might feel comfortable in Barry. To put it bluntly, it is not as Welsh as the rest of Wales.

Could Gavin and Stacey have worked if Stacey came from Aberystwyth? Well, you never know but it could not have been the same show.

Merthyr? Clearly a different show.

Machynlleth? Give me a break.

Porthcawl? Well, I’m not so sure.

By Philip Irwin – Senior Reporter

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