'Being an older mum is exhausting!'

Actor and This Morning presenter Joanna Page on motherhood, returning to work and her plans for the future

- ARIANA LONGSON

After a decade of devoting herself to motherhood and staying relatively out of the limelight, Gavin & Stacey's Joanna Page has got the showbiz bug and is ready for a career comeback. The actor - who shares four children, Eva, 10, Kit, eight, Noah, six, and Boe, 19 months, with former Emmerdale actor, husband James Thornton, 47 - tells us, 'I refused all work for a good six to eight years to be with the babies and that completely felt like the right thing to do. Except for bits and bobs like the Gavin & Stacey Christmas special, I've taken about 10 years off because I just don't think you can have it all. But now she admits, 'I feel ready to return to work. So, what With has the 46-year-old got planned?

The star, who I'll d has recently and do I fan appeared in a series of short films for This Morning exploring famous TV and film destinations, explains, 'I've started doing more presenting, which I'm loving. It fits in more with family life, I'm not away filming for six weeks on end and I get to go home at the end of the day. And as for the gig on one of daytime TV's biggest shows, Joanna says, 'Working on This Morning is a dream job.