ITV Cymru Wales / BBC Cymru Wales
Ruth Jones’ Gavin & Stacey character Nessa makes an appearance in the second instalment of Ruth and Steve
Gavin and Stacey star Ruth Jones has made a TV return to a south Wales seaside town.
Not to Barry Island for another Christmas special, but 20 miles down the coast to her home town of Porthcawl, Bridgend county, with fellow actor and friend Steve Speirs for the second instalment of their BBC show Ruth and Steve.
Their whistle-stop trip took in a cold-water dip at Sandy Bay, the Elvis Festival and visits to Jones’ favourite childhood haunts.
“It’s been really nice to realise how lucky I was growing up,” said Jones.
ITV Cymru Wales / BBC Cymru Wales
For their tour of Jones’ home town, the friends travelled in a vintage car
Ruth and Steve: From Porthcawl with Love, opened with home videos of a young Jones dancing on Porthcawl’s sand, filmed by her late father Richard.
Her mother Hannah said she always knew her daughter would become an actress as she had always been “very bossy”.
Jones co-created the BBC’s hit show Gavin & Stacey with James Corden.
The comedy debuted back in 2007 on BBC Three, with Jones playing the role of loveable Nessa Jenkins, known for her iconic, dryly-delivered phrases.
Visiting Coney Beach Amusement Park during the new show, the actress could not resist slipping into Nessa mode for one scene, winking at the camera and saying: “Be on your way.”
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The pair visited Coney Beach Amusement Park, which closed in October and is set to become a 1,100-home development
Jones said she would spend her summer holidays as a child “hanging out at the fair, getting soaked on the water flume”.
Opened in 1918 and inspired by New York’s Coney Island, the park officially closed in October and is set to become a 1,100-home development.
Jones also took Speirs to the town’s historic harbour, telling him “the sea is in my DNA”, thanks to her time in the Girls’ Nautical Training Corps.
The pair even took part in an RNLI training exercise, rescuing a 90kg (15 stone) dummy known as Dead Fred.
RNLI / Chris Page and Lisa Newberry
Jones and Speirs joined a team of volunteers from Barry Dock and Porthcawl RNLI for a training exercise
The pair stayed at the famous Trecco Bay caravan park for the weekend, one of the UK’s largest holiday parks.
They packed a lot into their “weekend to remember”, spending an evening at The General Picton pub, with Jones joining her brother Mark’s rock-and-roll open mic night, singing Running Man by Gerry & The Pacemakers.
Speirs and Jones also volunteered at the Porthcawl parkrun and tried a new seaside sauna, getting “whisked” with eucalyptus branches before braving a cold-water dip at Sandy Bay.
“It just makes you feel really alive,” said Jones after the dip. “I haven’t had that feeling for over 40 years.”
ITV Cymru Wales / BBC Cymru Wales
Jones showed Speirs around her home town in a “weekend to remember”
Visiting the Grand Pavilion, which is currently closed for redevelopment works, Jones reflected on the place where her career began, calling it “really emotional”.
The two later thrilled the crowd at Porthcawl’s Elvis Festival, founded 21 years ago by Peter Phillips, performing The Wonder of You on stage dressed as Elvis and Priscilla.
Now attracting around 40,000 people – with 500 shows across 20 venues and 150 Elvis tribute artists – Phillips said the festival was originally “only meant to be a joke”.
ITV Cymru Wales / BBC Cymru Wales
Dressed as Elvis and Priscilla, the friends performed at the Elvis Festival finale
As the sun set over the town, the friends toasted their “fantastic” weekend with two generous glasses of Porthcawl gin in honour of Jones’ late dad.
“It’s been really nice to realise how lucky I was growing up and what a lovely family life I had,” said Jones.
