Becoming an 'honorary Merthyr girl'

Actor Steve Speirs takes Gavin & Stacey star Ruth Jones on a tour of his home town, Merthyr Tydfil, in a film showcasing all there is to love about the place. Rachel Davis reports

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"I THINK it’s also a thing about being Welsh - we are a very melodramatic people!" muses actress, writer and comedian Ruth Jones.

“And we can be incredibly passionate and reactive but also we can be very down to earth seconds later.”

The Bridgend-born actress, 58, is talking about the writing process between her and fellow Welsh actor Steve Speirs, who have teamed up for the BBC’s Ruth And Steve: From Merthyr With Love, which sees them explore the Welsh town and see it in a new light.

Over the years, a frequent collaborator of Jones’ has of course been her Gavin & Stacey co-star James Corden, with whom she not only wrote the hit show, but also worked on a book: When Gavin Met Stacey and Everything in Between: A Story of Love and Friendship.

“Obviously I write a lot with James Corden and we have a different way of working together than me and Steve,” Jones explains.

“I don’t know if it’s because we have the same Welsh thing going on and we share that and both of us being actors we tend to sort of improvise. We act out who the characters are and what they'd say, what they'd do. And I know what's going to make you laugh, Steve.”

For Speirs, 60, whose TV credits include The Tuckers, Upstart Crow, and Sky comedy-drama Stella, humour is key.

“I think that humour is pretty universal in a fundamental way. It’s about the detail. As soon as somebody sees something that they recognise, they emphasise with it and then they’re part of it. Laughing is a shared experience,” he says.