She was left in a wheelchair after a fall in Dubai earlier this year
Gavin and Stacey actress Alison Steadman has given an update on her health following a severe fall earlier this year. The television star sustained injuries to her hand and leg after a painful tumble in a Dubai restaurant back in February.
She later confessed that she feels “lucky to be alive” after she tripped and “crashed down on concrete”. Alison returned to our screens as Pam, Gavin’s (Mathew Horne) mother, in the recent Gavin and Stacey finale over Christmas last year.
The 79-year-old, who briefly used a wheelchair after the incident, was dining in the Dubai desert when she stumbled over an uneven patch of pavement. Six months post-incident, she told The Mirror: “That fall was just terrible, shocking – it was an awful time. I’ve got to have another operation on my foot soon, to take the metal screws out of it. But I’ve finally just stopped using a stick, which is great – I am walking again, hurrah!”
Speaking at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature at the time of the accident, she remembered: “There were beautiful seats laid out and a buffet,” reports the Express.
“I went to get some pudding. I was walking along a concrete walkway that was not 100 per cent smooth. I tripped and it felt like I went up in the air about 5ft and then just crashed down on concrete.
“It was absolutely horrible. I landed on this foot and this hand and was in absolute agony.”
Alison was left puzzled when medical staff arrived and immediately asked if she’d fallen from a camel. She added: “I said, ‘What camel? I didn’t fall off a camel!’.”
The 2024 Christmas Gavin and Stacey special was promoted as ‘The Finale’ and more than 19 million viewers tuned in to discover whether Smithy and Nessa – portrayed by writers James Corden and Ruth Jones, respectively – would eventually commit to one another permanently.
Speaking to Woman and Home magazine recently, Ruth dismissed the possibility of resurrecting Gavin and Stacey, explaining that she and James consider ‘The Finale’ to be the ideal conclusion, a sentiment reinforced by viewers’ enthusiastic response to the closing episode.
She said: “The final episode of Gavin and Stacey was a beautiful ending to a wonderful journey. It was great that it ended the way it did. I’m delighted with how it went down. We couldn’t have done it any better, in a way, or any differently. People were very satisfied with the end, which was important.”
Gavin and Stacey is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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