When Joanna Page obtained a name from her agent asking her whether or not she wished to do Taskmaster, her first thought was: ‘Oh my God, no’.
It’s been over a yr because the nation mentioned goodbye to Gavin and Stacey – by which the 49-yr-previous Welsh actor performed the titular Stacey Shipman over 20 years – with a finale filming expertise that concerned bucketloads of sobbing (however we’ll get to that).
But what’s scarier than closing a door on the acquainted? Well, plunging headfirst into the unknown, after all. So, naturally, that’s Joanna’s plan for her first foray again to the small display, as she tells Metro.
She’s starring within the hit Channel 4 recreation present Taskmaster alongside presenter Joel Dommet (‘he’s like a labrador’); The Thick of It’s Armando Iannucci (‘just so clever’); comic Amy Gledhill (‘so Northern and absolutely gorgeous’); and Hollywood’s very personal Kumail Nanjiani (‘handsome and charming’).
‘I’ve been an enormous, large fan of the present ever because it first began. I’ve watched all the sequence with my kids. A giant fan favorite in the home.
‘The kids would say to me: “Would you ever do it?” And I was like: “Oh, my God, no way. I’m not a comic. I might be completely terrified,”‘ she reminisces.
Still, like all public determine with a humorous bone to their identify, Taskmaster quickly got here knocking, and Joanna had to face her fears head-on.
‘I got a phone call from my agent, completely out of the blue, saying: “Will you do Taskmaster?” My first thought was: “Oh my God, no, I don’t assume I can do it.”
‘Then I assumed: “For God’s sake, [your family] will absolutely kill you if you do not do it.” This could be the one factor that they might be like: “Oh my God, you are the best mother in the world.”‘
‘They would never, ever forgive me if I said no purely because I was too nervous, so I thought: “Right, come on, you’ve obtained to do one thing that scares you.”‘
In a present the place nearly nothing is out of bounds and no thought is simply too bonkers, the nerves quickly dissipated, and she determined to ‘really majorly commit to it’ the second the cameras began rolling – leaving the solid and crew ‘shocked’.
Although she didn’t go in with the mindset of being higher than everybody else, she definitely didn’t maintain again.
‘People think that I am very sweet and very nice and everything, but I’m an actress. I’m an Aries, very bold and fairly ruthless, and I throw myself into stuff.
‘I don’t have actually any embarrassment or disgrace. I’m used to utterly exposing myself as an actress, so I can actually say that I didn’t maintain again with something.’
Still, when requested if there’s something she will’t consider will air on TV, she does recall one second with a gleam in her eyes.
She caveats: ‘It isn’t even something that’s notably terrible or embarrassing or that I’ve massively gone for it, however there’s one bit that I did actually snicker at.
‘It’s a bit that folks gained’t anticipate it to be. I used to be appearing with one thing else, [not] a human [but] a furry animal, type of. I might have been extra embarrassed if I hadn’t thrown myself into it [and] made a idiot of myself, as a result of that’s the purpose.’
For Joanna, although, the cherry on prime was managing to amuse the eponymous Taskmaster himself, Gregg Davies, whom she discovered to be ‘quite cutting’ and ‘genuinely scary’.
‘It’s an utter pleasure in case you all of the sudden see just a little glimmer in his eye. You assume: “Oh my god, I cracked him,”‘ she provides.
After showing on the present with Last One Laughing’s very personal Amy, I ask if it’s impressed her to give the Amazon Prime hit a attempt subsequent.
‘There was talk about me meeting them and I was very much like: “No, I don’t assume so.” I really like the present, however, but once more, I’m not a stand-up. But it’s humorous watching the second sequence,’ she says.
But by no means say by no means, as she continues: ‘Maybe in the future, it might be something that I might go: “oh, I don’t know, might I give it a go?”‘
This marks a brand new period for Joanna, who closed the door on Gavin and Stacey in 2024 – a filming course of she describes as ‘borderline traumatic’.
‘By the time we’d filmed for nevertheless many weeks it was, I had been crying each single day.
‘The final day, I cried actually all day, to the purpose the place I began panicking, pondering: “I really don’t want to be the one that messes up the end of Gavin and Stacey because I can’t get any of my lines out.” But I managed to pull it collectively.’
Still, all that ‘sobbing’ had a function.
‘From then on, I’ve been completely tremendous, as a result of I don’t assume I might have grieved it and cried any extra for it than I did all over filming,’ she jokes.
And now she will merely recognize the lengthy-lasting affect the present has had on its vast-ranging fanbase.
‘Not a single day goes by that somebody doesn’t come up to me and say: “Oh my god, absolutely love the show.” It’s pretty as a result of it’s prefer it’s nonetheless right here on a regular basis, however I’ve lastly laid it to relaxation.’
For now, she’s cheering on the chums she’s collected over time from the sidelines. As a veteran presenter, does she have a dream Strictly duo, I ask.
‘I would love it to be Rylan, because he lifts everything. I could sit and listen to him for hours, and I would definitely tune in to watch him,’ she says with out hesitation.
And who higher to be a part of him than The One Show’s very personal Alex Jones.
‘I know that she’d maintain all of it collectively as a result of she’s so skilled, but in addition she’s actually cheeky and humorous. The pair of these collectively could be a little bit of starlight and magic.’
As for her personal future on display, 23 years on from Love Actually, she’s greater than open to a return to the world of rom-coms.
‘I would probably like to do a middle-aged rom-com, and my husband could star opposite me,’ she says, earlier than realising she doesn’t have to cease there.
‘Or I might go down the Emma Thompson vein, and I could be middle-aged woman doing a rom-com, and then I might have a young Jacob Elordi as my rom-com partner.’
Dashing 28-yr-previous Aussie actors apart, in the end, she solely has one dream position she’s nearly ready to make a actuality.
‘Oh God, I’d love to play Miss Marple. I do know folks would say that it’s actually boring, however I really like homicide mysteries.
‘Give me a couple of years, and please just put me in a cottage in the Cotswolds or somewhere with a little fence and lots of flowers in the front garden. Put a body in the front garden as well, and let me solve a crime.’
Then, in a second of excellent readability, she declares: ‘We could merge both things: Middle-aged Marple solving crimes whilst also having a rom-com relationship with Jacob Elordi – I think that would be perfect.’
Taskmaster season 21 airs on Thursday, April 9 at 9pm on Channel 4.
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