Today’s Joanna Page

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.

Today's Joanna Page

Today’s Joanna Page: Love Soup

9 May 2008 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Today’s Joanna Page, despite the best efforts of the BBC, is Love Soup, David Renwick’s slightly odd look at love that stars Tamsin Greig, Sheridan Smith and the superfluous one from Ashes to Ashes.

I caught an episode of it once to see what Sheridan Smith was up to in her time off from Two Pints and wasn’t desperately impressed. This time round was better, notably because of Joanna Page who got to exercise her acting muscles in a surprisingly subtle way. More on that later.

Strangely, Love Soup seems to have more in common with Jonathan Creek than Renwick’s One Foot in the Grave, with bizarre love mysteries to be solved in outlandish ways. It’s not great, but it’s okay: as much as I love Tamsin Greig – and indeed Sheridan Smith – Greig’s character, Alice, is just dull (although that’s probably the point) and Smith’s doesn’t really have a lot of depth. Still, it’s only half an hour long and nearly at the end of series two, so I’ve probably missed out on a lot.

Anyway, more pics of JP after the jump, including a great big spoiler. If you haven’t seen the episode yet and intend to, don’t go any further.

Incidentally, I do warn you that if you have still to see it, do not watch it where anyone can see you: it is definitely Not Suitable For The Office. Or indeed public transport. 

Continue reading “Today’s Joanna Page: Love Soup”

Today's Joanna Page

Today’s Joanna Page: Safety Catch

3 May 2008 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Today’s Joanna Page (or did y’all prefer "Page of the Day"? Or even just "Joanna page"?) is from Gavin & Stacey (obviously). Hope you enjoy it.

Just as a brief – okay, not very brief at all – aside though, I’ve been listening to Safety Catch, which was a Radio 4 comedy show on in September/October last year. The lovely Ms Page isn’t in it much, even though she gets almost top billing, but she’s brilliant when she is, particularly when she gets a load of good lines in the fourth episode. Plus, ooh! She’s allowed to keep her Swansea accent! Yey!

In case you don’t know what it’s about, here’s the plot from the BBC Radio 4 web site:

Safety Catch is the story of a man who never intended to go into the arms trade: he fell into it but he’s definitely going to leave soon. And if he wasn’t doing his job, someone else would. And at least he doesn’t work for McDonald’s

Simon McGrath likes to think of himself as a good person. He donates blood (although not bone marrow because he’s heard that hurts), he recycles and he’s adopted two tigers. But he has to pay his mortgage just like everyone else and that’s why he currently works as an arms dealer.

It’s actually really funny (Laurence Howarth wrote it), so worth listening to in its own right. How can you do that, given that Radio 4 isn’t playing it any more, and it’s not on Listen Again? I couldn’t possibly comment, but you could try clicking the Play buttons below…

PS I had the strangest impression they’d done a TV pilot of it with Stephen Mangan recently, but I can’t find the slightest trace of that anywhere, so I must have imagined it.

PPS No hint of a second series. Sigh. Still, if you stick it on at 11.30pm on a Wednesday, what do you expect?