Gavin and Stacey star recalls ‘ridiculous’ question she was asked after foot injury
Gavin and Stacey actor Alison Steadman has recalled the ‘ridiculous’ moment she was asked about falling off a camel when she injured her foot in Dubai.
Steadman, best known for playing Gavin’s mother Pam Shipman in the beloved BBC sitcom, suffered the incident six months while promoting her memoir Out of Character.
While she was in Dubai, Steadman explains that she managed to slip on a desert walkway and subsequently broke her metatarsal bone.
Speaking to The Times, the actor explained that she was left sitting on the sand “sobbing in agony”. When being attended by a paramedic, she was bizarrely asked how she had fallen of the camel.
“I said, what? I haven’t even seen a camel,” exclaimed Steadman.
“She assumed that an elderly British woman’s broken her foot in the desert,” the 78-year-old added. “Well, she must have fallen off a camel. It was just ridiculous.”
Steadman is now reportedly back on her feet following the injury.
Steadman, whose other roles include her work with director Mike Leigh, such as Abigail’s Party and Life is Sweet, is currently promoting the new season of Here We Go.
The BBC sitcom, set in Befford, focuses on the often chaotic life of the Jessop family. The acclaimed show stars Jim Horwick, Katherine Parkinson, as well as writer and creator Tom Basden.
Steadman plays Granny Sue in the show, who often greets anyone who turns up at the front door with a variety of desserts.
Speaking with The Independent last month, Basden said that his own mother is a character of a similar nature to Granny Sue.
“She’ll just produce a roast chicken dinner and put it in front of someone,” he says. “She’s incredibly giving, but in a way that can be quite absurd.”
Basden, meanwhile, plays Uncle Robin, a man who is obsessed with investing his time in whatever the hot new trend is. According to Basden, this is a riff on his own brother.
“Around the age of 17, he had a very similar energy to Robin,” he explains. “So I wanted to write about that person in the family who’s always reinventing themselves, and everyone being very accommodating, but sort of knowing it’s probably a mistake.”
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