Gavin and Stacey star in a tribute to Doris before the final episode.

Ruth Jones and Joanna Page have paid a touching tribute to Gavin and Stacey actress Margaret John, who played cheeky neighbor Doris on the hit BBC sitcom.

“Working with Maggie John is one of the highlights of Gavin & Stacey,” Joanna Page said in an interview with Alex Jones for a new BBC Sounds special. Barry Island Discus.

“I just love how her character got bigger and badder and, as the series went on, sexier and sexier.”

John Died in 2011.Aged 84, the character lives with Doris, next door to the Givens on Trinity Street in Barry, leaving her home to Gavin and Stacey in her will.

“I remember when we were casting Gavin and Stacey and we had this character of Doris, the next-door neighbor who was a little rude,” said Ruth Jones, co-creator of the series.

Our director Chris Gurnan said ‘I know exactly the actress who plays the role – it’s Maggie John’.

Doris was known for her candor as well as her sense of humor. He refused to make the salad. For the name Neil the baby.

“I think, from the first series, I always remember filming it because it was my first scene as well,” Page said.

“Getting off the bus, walking across the street and saying ‘Okay Dor?’ And then she advises me on what I should look like when I go to London to see Gavin, and she gives me a little bit of advice.

“From that moment I thought ‘Oh my God, this woman is so funny and beautiful and wonderful’.

A moment that stood out for Page. Doris appears on drums. Neil the Baby as Uncle Brian, played by Rob Brydon, sang the classic, So Strong.

“He was quite nervous when he was doing it, Rob, because he wanted to do it well. Oh my God, he does it so well,” he said.

“I remember sitting in the pews and laughing the whole way through and just desperately trying to keep it together.

“Because your Uncle Brian was going along with a song that you’d never really heard at a party, and then you had Maggie, a wonderful Margaret John on drums, and we had a lot of Maggie. Loved… but she was very nervous and couldn’t find the time.

It turns out, the drum hits at comic times weren’t intentional.

Producer Ted Dowd was forced to lie on the floor behind the pews and carry a barrow whenever John had to drum.

“She would wait like a second and then go ‘boom’ so there was always an unintentional delay in time. It was absolutely hilarious,” Page added.

“One of the best days of filming ever.”

The final episode of Gavin and Stacey will air on BBC iPlayer and BBC One. 25 December at 20:00 GMT