In which we try to review and show pictures and clips of the best bits from everything Gavin & Stacey actress Joanna Page has been in on TV, radio, theatre and film (we're drawing the line at audio books). As life challenges go, it's not quite up there with Danny Wallace's Yes Man, but it's worth doing.
Do you know what my wife said when she saw this had arrived through the post? "Oh, lush."
I'm not saying she is Joanna Page or Stacey, just that sometimes the similarities get a little spooky.
Anyway: Gavin & Stacey, bit of a sleeper hit during its first series on BBC3, won surprising amounts of awards, then suddenly went through the roof during series two, which went on to win even more awards.
Now series two is going to be repeated on BBC1 (starting this Friday) just in time for a Christmas special, also to be aired on BBC1, and for this DVD release.
It's a lovely little sitcom about a girl from Wales and a boy from SE England who meet, fall in love and get married (rings some bells. Hmm). But as the tag line almost says, it's not just the two of them and the story is as much about their best friends and family as it is about them.
There's a question that is no doubt on everyone's mind right now: "Where can I see Joanna Page this Christmas?" Fortunately, there's an answer.
If you're content to watch tele, she's on the Gavin & Stacey Christmas special as Stacey (of course), which is currently filming in Barry. Here she is with Matthew Horne, filming a scene.
But, you can see her in panto at London’s New Wimbledon Theatre as well. She'll be playing Cinderella opposite Gareth Gates; Alistair McGowan's in it, too.
In a little bit of a break with tradition, Today's Joanna Page is a preview of a show she's appearing in as herself: The Real Hustle. It's a show where various confidence trickster types try to dupe members of the public – and, for this series, celebrities – with various tricks.
In this trick, there's an eating challenge, which to be honest, is a bit sh*t and it was pretty obvious what they were doing. But you do get to see
a) Joanna Page
b) the interior of the Trafalgar Studios, as well as the sets of Fat Pig, before it relocated to the Comedy Theatre
The episode will be airing on Thursday 16th October at 10.30pm on BBC3.
Today's Joanna Page is What the Butler Saw, the last play of Joe Orton, which our Joanna appeared in in 2005. And which I didn't see, of course, so can't tell you if it was any good, but here's a review from The Stage. At some point, I'll get on to watching some more of JP's movies and do some proper reviews, but work's a bit busy at the moment.
In What the Butler Saw, Dr Prentice, a psychiatrist, attempts to seduce his prospective secretary, Geraldine Barclay (JP). But his wife is being seduced and blackmailed by Nicholas Beckett. She therefore promises Nicholas the post as secretary, which adds further confusion, including Nicholas and Geraldine dressing as the opposite sex. Dr Prentice's clinic is then faced by a government inspection. The inspection, led by Dr Rance, reveals the chaos in the clinic.
As you might have guessed, it's a farce.
The pic above is just about the only pic of JP from the production that I could find (any others gratefully received). So as a special treat, here's a truly delightful picture of two Ali Larters in Heroes to round it all off nicely.
Today's Joanna Page is The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, her first ever stage appearance, in which she played a schoolgirl. See if you can spot her - she's in school uniform.
Today's Joanna Page is Fat Pig, Neil LaBute's size-related comedy play, which has been running in London for a good few months now. In fact, I've already reviewed it - twice.
However, from the 11th September, it's going to be moving away from the Trafalgar Studios to the Comedy Theatre and Rob Webb and Kris Marshall are going to be replaced by Nick Burns and Kevin Bishop respectively. Then from October, Joanna Page is going to be off filming the Gavin & Stacey Christmas special and is going to be replaced by Kelly Brook. No word on what's happening with Ella Smith, yet.
So here's a publicity shot of our Joanna with Kevin Bishop (photo by Simon Turtle). And this is her (with Matthew Horne) in Gavin & Stacey:
What a chameleon. How's she do that?
PS There's a video on the Fat Pig web site in which Neil LaBute interviews the current cast. In it, Rob Webb admits there was an evening where he chose to play Tom as “a complete spoon” then changed his mind and went back to playing it the original way. Any want to bet he did it on the night that I first went to see it, thus explaining the change in performance by the time I went back to see it again?
Today's Joanna Page is Very Annie Mary, a little movie set in Wales that features just about every Welsh actor in existence. It stars Rachel Griffiths, an Australian actress who impressed everyone right up until she joined the cast of Brothers and Sisters, as Annie Mary, the frustrated (in every sense) daughter of Pavarotti-impersonating baker Jonathan Pryce.
She wants to help her best friend, the seriously ill 16-year-old Bethan Bevan, get to Disneyland and singing in a talent contest might be the only way to get the money. And despite being 22 at the time, Joanna Page played that sick teenager.
It stars Darren Boyd, Joanna Page (yes) and Brigid Forsyth and is really quite funny, if you're into slightly black, apparently un-PC yet not comedy. If you've missed any episodes - which is likely since it started its run on the 8th July - you can catch up using the iPlayer or through my last blog entry on the subject, which links to all four episodes. You can also find out more about the show from the British Comedy Guide, which has been good enough to quote me alongside The Guardian and the Daily Telegraph for some reason on its “press clippings” page about the show.
However, after having the show nudged back into my consciousness, I decided to investigate a bit to see if a second series has finally been commissioned. And lo and behold it has, according to writer Laurence Howarth. The second series should be airing next year some time - no word on if there have been any cast or character changes or when recordings are going to be. I s'pose I could ask, but that sounds a bit like hard work. Maybe later…
In a return to its roots, Today's Joanna Page eschews the excitement of the review and the intellectual delight of the polemic in favour of pure pictures, since it's time for the 2004 touring production of Billy Liar, which I obviously didn't see (even though it began its run at Bromley's Churchill theatre).
I can't even comment on the story, since although I've seen the movie version, it was so long go, all I can remember are about three images from the whole thing. And I haven't seen the TV series. Or read the book.
Today's Joanna Page - and also, in a blog crossover first, Lambert Gold - is The Cazalets, a mini-series from 2001 based on 'The Cazalet Chronicles' by Elizabeth Jane Howard.
Now, you may - or may not - have noticed that in many TV programmes there feature a certain group of people called 'women'. More often than not, particularly in period dramas, they're there to serve specific plot functions: to encourage/discourage the hero; to make tea; to bring up the children; and to be decorative and fallen in love with.
However, many noted scholars, intellectuals and TV producers are coming to the conclusion that these secondary characters could have emotions and feelings of their own; they could have their own viewpoints and opinions; they could even, in time, become the heroes - 'heroines' perhaps? - of some stories.
It was one such rebel faction, led by actress Joanna Lumley and producer Verity Lambert, who decided in 1998 to adapt 'The Cazalet Chronicles' as a mini-series. Convinced that a story of the various women and girls in the Cazalet family during the 30s and 40s could be as interesting as any similar tale about men, they scratched together co-funding from the BBC and WGBH.
An at-times grim tale that shows all the miseries that could befall even well-off women back in the 'good old days', the only real problem with the 2001 production is that they never had a chance to finish it.
Tue 18 Nov: Does it count in the CSI: Miami drinking game if David Caruso and Emily Procter are apparently in the same scene together, but they never speak to each other and you never see both their faces at the same time?
Sat 15 Nov: The Ascent of Money "sponsored by Cayman Islands". Huh. What's going on there then?
Sun 02 Nov: Do you think it's deliberate that Sam's mom in the US version of Life on Mars is called Rose Tyler?
Ms Rullsenberg has 
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