When Joanna Web page acquired the decision from her agent asking if she wished to do Taskmaster, her first thought was, “Oh my God, no.”
It has been over a 12 months because the nation stated goodbye to Gavin and Stacey – wherein the 49-year-old Welsh actor performed the titular Stacey Shipman for 20 years – with one ultimate cinematic expertise that concerned a ton of sobbing (however we’ll get to that).
However what’s scarier than closing the door on the acquainted? Properly, diving head first into the unknown after all. So after all that is Joanna’s plan for her first foray again to the small display, as she tells Metro.
She stars within the hit Channel 4 recreation present Taskmaster alongside presenter Joel Dommet (‘he is like a Labrador’); The Thick of It is Armando Iannucci (‘simply so good’); comic Amy Gledhill (‘so northern and completely lovely’); and Hollywood’s personal Kumail Nanjiani (“good-looking and charming”).
“I have been a giant, massive fan of the present because the first one began. I watched all of the sequence with my kids. A agency fan favourite in the home.
“The youngsters stated to me, ‘Would you ever do this?’ And I assumed, “Oh my God, no approach. I am not a comic. I might be completely terrified,” she remembers.
But Taskmaster, like several public determine with a humorous bone to his identify, quickly got here knocking, and Joanna needed to face her fears head-on.
‘I acquired a name from my agent fully out of the blue asking: ‘Do you wish to do Taskmaster?’ My first thought was, “Oh my God, no, I do not suppose I can do it.”
‘Then I assumed, ‘For God’s sake, [your family] it’s going to completely kill you should you do not do it.” This might be the one factor the place they might say, “Oh my God, you’re the greatest mother on this planet.”
‘They’d by no means forgive me if I stated no simply because I used to be too nervous, so I assumed, “Okay, come on, it’s important to do one thing you are afraid of.”‘
In a present the place nearly nothing is out of bounds and no thought is simply too loopy, the nerves shortly dissipated and she or he determined to “actually actually decide to it” as soon as the cameras began rolling – leaving the solid and crew “shocked.”
Though she did not go into it pondering she was higher than everybody else, she definitely did not maintain again.
‘Folks suppose I am very candy and good and all that, however I am an actress. I am an Aries, very bold and fairly ruthless, and I throw myself into issues.
“I really haven’t any disgrace or disgrace. I am used to exposing myself fully as an actress, so I can truthfully say I did not maintain again something.”
However when requested if there’s something she will be able to’t imagine will air on TV, she remembers a second with a gleam in her eye.
She makes a aspect observe: “It isn’t even something that is significantly horrible or embarrassing or one thing that I went all out for, however there may be one factor that basically made me snicker.
“It’s kind of that folks do not count on. I handled one thing else, [not] a human [but] a furry animal, form of. I might have been much more embarrassed if I hadn’t thrown myself into it [and] I made a idiot of myself as a result of that is the purpose.’
For Joanna, nevertheless, the icing on the cake was that she managed to amuse the eponymous Taskmaster himself, Gregg Davies, who she discovered ‘fairly reducing’ and ‘actually scary’.
‘It is an ideal pleasure whenever you all of the sudden see a little bit sparkle in his eyes. You suppose, “Oh my god, I cracked it,” she provides.
After showing on the present with Amy from Final One Laughing, I ask if it impressed her to provide the Amazon Prime hit a strive subsequent.
‘There was discuss of me assembly them and I used to be very very like, “No, I do not suppose so.” I really like the present, however then once more, I am not a stand-up man. Nevertheless it’s enjoyable watching the second sequence,” she says.
However by no means say ‘by no means’, she continues: ‘Possibly sooner or later it could be one thing the place I might select, “oh, I do not know, might I give it a strive?”‘
This marks a brand new period for Joanna, who closed the door on Gavin and Stacey in 2024 – a filmmaking course of she describes as ‘borderline traumatic’.
“By the point we completed filming, nevertheless many weeks it was, I had cried day by day.
‘The final day I actually cried all day, to the purpose the place I panicked and thought, “I actually do not wish to be the one to smash Gavin and Stacey’s ending as a result of I am unable to get any traces out.” However I made it occur.”
But all that sobbing had a function.
“I have been advantageous from then on as a result of I do not suppose I might have grieved or cried about it greater than I did whereas filming,” she jokes.
And now she will be able to merely admire the long-lasting impression the present has had on its broad fan base.
“Not a day goes by that somebody would not come as much as me and say, ‘Oh my god, I completely love the present.’ It is lovely as a result of it is prefer it’s at all times there, however I lastly put it to relaxation.”
For now, she’s cheering from the sidelines on the buddies she’s collected through the years. As an skilled presenter, does she have a dream Strictly duo, I ask.
“I might like to be Rylan as a result of he lifts every thing. I might sit and hearken to him for hours, and I might positively tune in to look at him,” she says with out hesitation.
And who higher to affix him than The One Present’s Alex Jones.
“I do know she holds all of it collectively as a result of she’s so skilled, however she’s additionally very sassy and humorous. The 2 collectively could be a little bit of starlight and magic.”
As for her personal future on display, 23 years after Love Really, she’s greater than open to a return to the world of rom-coms.
“I might in all probability love to do a middle-aged rom-com, and my husband could possibly be reverse me,” she says, earlier than realizing she would not must cease there.
“Or I might comply with the Emma Thompson vein, and I could possibly be a middle-aged lady doing a romcom, after which I may need a younger Jacob Elordi as my romcom companion.”
In the end, other than the 28-year-old Australian actors, she solely has one dream function that she’s near attaining.
‘Oh God, I might like to play Miss Marple. I do know folks would say it is actually boring, however I really like homicide mysteries.
‘Give me a number of years, and please put me in a cottage within the Cotswolds or someplace with a small fence and many flowers within the entrance backyard. Additionally, put a physique within the entrance yard and let me remedy a criminal offense.”
Then, in a second of excellent readability, she declares, “We might put each issues collectively: middle-aged Marple fixing crimes and on the similar time having a romantic relationship with Jacob Elordi – I feel that may be excellent.”
Taskmaster season 21 airs on Thursday April 9 at 9pm on Channel 4.
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