Ruth Jones: Husband, Gavin & Stacey And Novels!
You may think you know everything about Ruth Jones (Nessa in Gavin & Stacey), but what about her husband, novels and production company?
Image Source/ The Sun
Her childhood…
Ruth was born in Bridgend, south Wales on September 22nd, 1966.
She grew up with two older brothers and a younger sister. Her mother was a doctor and her father was a lawyer for the British Steel Corporation.
She attended the same school as future co-star Rob Brydon: Porthcawl Comprehensive School. Remembering her school years, Ruth stated that she took part in every school production with earnest.
She graduated from Warwick University with a degree in Theatre Studies and Dramatic Arts and then went on to train at Cardiff’s Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Her early career…
Ruth’s first ever role was in Dominic Cooke’s adaptation of the stage production The Marriage of Figaro, where she played Countess Almaviva. She toured the role for six months but later found it difficult to find work.
To keep herself on her feet, Ruth had a temporary job as a clerical assistant for the Education Contracts department of the Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council. At this point she thought she should give up her acting dreams and retrain as a solicitor.
Thankfully, Stan Stennett – a comedian and pantomime producer – gave her a chance, and she got a job shifting scenery from act to act as well as playing Michaelangelo (the ninja turtle) in a production of ‘Dick Whittington’.
Ruth’s luck increased after this; she got her first ever TV job on a non-broadcasted sketch show with Rob Brydon and Steve Speirs. Shortly after this, she joined an improvisation group in Bath – here she met another future co-star, Julia Davis.
In 1999 she was cast in the hit British film, East Is East.
Video Source/ YouTube
When her career took off…
Her success in East is East (1999) led to Ruth being cast in more roles. Most notably in 2000 she was cast as ‘Kelly’ in ITV’s hit comedy show, Fat Friends.
She starred in the show from 2000-2005 and it was here that she became friends with James Corden, who she would go on to write the BAFTA winning hit comedy, Gavin & Stacey.
However, before that she starred in Julia Davis’ Nighty Night as Linda (2004-2005); as Myfanwy in Little Britain (2003-2006); she played Magz in Saxondale (2006-2007) and Jean in I’m With Stupid (2005-2006).
In 2007, she teamed up with James Corden to write what would become Gavin & Stacey. Talking about that time, Ruth has said:
‘It wasn’t as deliberate as us saying, ‘Right, we’re going to react against cynical comedy’. We just wrote what we wanted. And it just so happens that the show does generate a lot of warmth. People seem to like that, especially when things aren’t terribly jolly. It’s nice to have your cockles warmed’.
The show became so popular that it moved from BBC Three to BBC One. It won two BAFTAS and four British Comedy Awards.
The comedy series also allowed Ruth the chance to record the single, ‘Islands In The Stream’ with Rob Brydon for Comic Relief – the pair’s characters, Nessa and Bryn, perform the single on the show. The single went to number one in the charts!
Ruth and James gave fans recently released the news that they have been waiting ten years for – Gavin & Stacey is returning… as a Christmas special! The show will be aired on Christmas Day, 2019.
Ruth Jones’ husband…
In 2008, Ruth and her producer husband David Peet co-founded the production company, Tidy Productions. The company produced 58 episodes of the couple’s series, Stella. Together they created, executively produced and wrote episodes of the show.
Talking about the show, Ruth revealed that she was worried about working on a comedy that was set in Wales, AGAIN (after Gavin & Stacey) but said:
‘I know people from the Valleys and it is just a joyously colourful place and full of characters’.
The show’s final episode aired in October 2017.
Ruth met her husband, David Peet, in the nineties when they were working on a comedy pilot together. She was single; he was married with three children.
David ended up leaving his wife, and Ruth and him have been together ever since. Ruth Jones’ husband has also produced the shows Borderline (1990) and The Great Outdoors (2010). The couple live in Cardiff.
Image Source/ Daily Mail
When promoting her first novel, Never Greener (2018), Ruth did admit that she and David had an affair but she insists:
‘The book is not based on my experience in that regard […] Affairs cause a lot of pain, they’re not something one aspires to do. You don’t aspire to cause pain to people in their life. Nobody in the book is based on anybody in my life […] Of course you have to ask. But my imagination is quite ferocious, in that I can imagine the worst possible scenarios’.
Her book was based on a screenplay she had written in 2004 but it had never seen the light of day.
The rights to her book were part of a bidding war between ten different publishing companies. Ruth went to her Warwick university pal, Jonny Geller, one of the best literary agents UK has and asked him to help her decide.
She ended up signing a two-book deal with Transworld. Her second novel, Us Three, is set to be published in April 2020.
How she handles the negativity…
Ruth admitted that she was nervous about criticism about her first novel:
‘I am nervous about how my debut novel will be received, because there’s always that feeling that somebody might say something negative. I say I won’t read the reviews, but I probably will. But just because somebody says something negative, I don’t have to believe it’.
She has admitted that she has low self-esteem, and this is the reason why she isn’t on any social media platforms:
‘I have read comments that people have received. James [Corden], for instance, gets horrible comments from people. I’ve seen the stuff that’s been said and I just couldn’t handle it if people were being directly abusive. The world is crap enough without adding to that vitriol. People say it’s just like the modern day graffiti on toilet walls in the pub, or when you’re in a car and have road rage’.
Who else is excited for the Gavin & Stacey Christmas special?!
