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'I'm really bad at telling jokes,' says Ruth Jones

Oliver Slow
BBC News
BBC/ITV Cymru Wales Ruth Jones seen visiting a market with Steve Speirs. She is wearing a blue rain jacket and a white turtle neck jumper and is looking at bottles of sauces at a stall. BBC/ITV Cymru Wales
Ruth Jones, seen here visiting Merthyr Market, said she "can't imagine anything worse" than telling jokes publicly

Despite being the co-writer of one of the most popular comedies of our time, Ruth Jones insists she is "really bad at telling jokes".

"Some people describe me as a comedian, but I'm not a comedian, not at all," the Gavin & Stacey star said.

She was speaking alongside close friend, actor and comedian Steve Speirs about their new show Ruth and Steve: From Merthyr with Love.

The show, which airs on BBC One Wales at 21:00 BST on Friday, sees Speirs show Jones around his hometown of Merthyr Tydfil.

Jones is best-known for her portrayal of Nessa in Gavin & Stacey, but success also came with Stella - a comedy-drama which she co-wrote set in a fictional Welsh town and which aired between 2012 and 2017.

It was on this show she built a close relationship with Speirs, who has appeared in various British comedies as well as Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

Speaking about their friendship, Jones described Speirs as "such a good raconteur".

"He does after dinner speeches and he's brilliant – I can't imagine anything worse than doing that," she told Behnaz Akhgar on BBC Radio Wales.

Asked if she was shy, she said: "It's not that I'm shy, I just don't have that skill set.

"I'm really bad at telling jokes."

Ruth and Steve: From Merthyr with Love, sees Speirs show Jones around "his Merthyr", including a trip to a viaduct which he used to visit with his granddad.

They also visit the local bowls club in Troedyrhiw, where he spent much of his youth.

Difficult trails at Bike Park Wales - located just outside the town - are tackled by the pair in another part of the show.

The pair said they were "laughing so much" they could not breathe during the segment.

BBC/ITV Cymru Wales Ruth Jones and Steve Speirs on white scooters, Ruth has her hands in the air while Steve's hands are crossed and leaning on the scooter. They are parked in the middle of a street with shops on either side. BBC/ITV Cymru Wales
Jones and Speirs on a C5 Sinclair scooter, which was made in Merthyr

"In the film we think we're going really fast, and then you cut to us and it's just pathetic – ducks could've gone past us," said Speirs.

The show is part of a series of programmes that celebrate the history, culture and people of Merthyr Tydfil - the world's first industrial town - as Cyfarthfa Castle celebrates its 200th birthday.

Speirs said the idea of the show was for him to show "a great friend that I love very much around Merthyr".

"I couldn't get hold of him, so Ruth came," he joked.

Jones said she knew a little bit about Merthyr before making the show because her sister worked there as a doctor, but what surprised her the most was how green it was.

"We met so many people who had set up different business – it was a very proactive place," she said.

Jones also said she would like to reciprocate Speirs' hospitality and show him around her hometown of Porthcawl, Bridgend.

"I would really love him to see it," she said.