Ruth Jones use her nine-year-old niece in a ploy to keep the ‘Gavin and Stacey’ comeback a secret.
The sitcom returns on Christmas Day (25.12.19) after a nine year absence, and the show’s creator needed a cover story when she was on a reconnaissance trip to Barry Island to speak to the owner of the house used by Stacey’s mother Gwen about using it again.
Ruth – who writes the show with co-creator James Corden and also stars as Nessa – said: "When I’ve been back to Barry sometimes there are people who are taking photos of the outside of the house and, if they see me, they sometimes want to take photos.
"If they see me on my own, it might start suspicious going. So, I took her and had some photos taken outside so I could just say ‘I’m just showing my niece.’ "
Ruth, 53, also told friends that she was going on holiday when they asked about her frequent trips to Los Angeles to write the show with James (Smithy).
She added: "The truth was we weren’t lapping up the LA sunshine, we were stuck indoors… not stuck, we were indoors writing."
And she also confessed that it was "a bit strange" working alongside ‘Late Late Show’ host James again after so long without collaborating.
She told Red Magazine: "Although we’d seen each other over the years, we hadn’t spent any great length of time together.
"But what’s nice about the way we write is that we just act out the characters ourselves, so it’s just like playing, really. We make each other laugh a lot."
The sitcom – which aired on the BBC for three series, plus a Christmas special, from 2007 to 2010 – stars Mathew Horne and Joanna Page as the titular Gavin and Stacey.
The cast will be back together on screen this month, with Rob Brydon (Uncle Bryn), Larry Lamb (Mick), Melanie Walters (Gwen) and Alison Steadman (Pam) all reprising their roles for the upcoming special.
Ruth Jones used niece to keep Gavin and Stacey secret
