Actress Joanna Page, who found fame as Stacey in BBC comedy Gavin And Stacey, talks to Gabrelle Fagan about her life-changing health condition and her addiction to thrill-seeking.

A CONVERSATION with blonde, bubbly Joanna Page is quite breathtaking – she talks at a similar pace to a high-speed train and constantly peppers her anecdotes with ‘Oh, my God’ and ‘It’s amazing’, and also giggles infectiously.

It makes her seem like a carbon copy of her role on the hugely-successful BBC comedy Gavin And Stacey, which was set in Barry, South Wales, and also starred Ruth Jones, James Corden and Rob Brydon.

Joanna played Stacey Shipman, fiance of Gavin West (Mathew Horne), and while over the course of three series they eventually became Mr and Mrs West, she evolved into one of the nation’s favourite stars.

The actress, who’s just been chosen as the new face of Superdrug, says: “People really do think I am Stacey and I suppose I am similar to her in some ways.”

“She’s a real down-to-earth Welsh girl and loves her family, so that’s just like me. And we share the same enthusiasm and optimism and she’s feisty like me although it’s a bit more exaggerated in her. But she’s rougher and tougher than me – we’re definitely opposites on that.”

Her natural feistiness has certainly stood her in good stead. Initially, like many young actresses, she had to battle to gain recognition in the profession – her accent wasn’t a selling point while she was training at RADA and she was instead encouraged to learn English, Scottish and Irish accents.

Joanna, who grew up in Swansea, says: “It’s so amazing that being Welsh has become really popular all of a sudden because I love my accent and I’m so proud of coming from Wales.”

Five years ago, Joanna, 32, needed all her determination to cope with an undiagnosed health problem.

“Gradually, I just started to feel I was in slow motion all the time, which I know might a bit difficult to believe,” she says.

“But I just had no energy. I’d get out of bed, load the washing machine and then be so drained I’d have to sit around staring into space for the rest of the day.

“And I was continually freezing cold. I’d have the central heating on full blast, be wearing three layers of clothing including thermals, and my husband James (Thornton) would have to walk around in shorts because it was so hot in the house.”

Publicly, she kept up a front fearing she might affect her career if she was anything other than her normal energetic self and talking nineteen to the dozen.

“Actually, I talk fast naturally – it’s also a bit of a cover for my shyness. That was the reason my mum and dad, who speak quickly too, encouraged me to go in for drama as a child – to bring me out of myself,” she says.

“But during the time I was ill I sort of speeded up even more because I didn’t want people to think anything was wrong with me.

“The only way I could get energy was through drinking loads of drinks like Red Bull.

It went on for at least a year and even though I felt terrible I just kept convincing myself it was because I was working hard in theatre roles, but after I suffered a string of colds James and mum finally persuaded me to see a doctor.”

Blood tests revealed an underactive thyroid, where the thyroid gland in the neck does not make enough hormone, thyroxine. It’s more common in women than men and conventional treatment is thyroxine tablets.

‘‘It was a shock at first because I didn’t have some of the common symptoms, weight gain and hair loss. But my mum has it too, following an operation for an overactive thyroid many years ago when, unfortunately, they took too much away so she became underactive,”

she says.

“After only two weeks on thyroxine I started to feel like me again and get my sparkle back. It was amazing. I have to be on the medication for life, and I’m careful to have the tablets with me all the time, because if I don’t take it regularly I could fall into a coma and die.”

Joanna’s appeared in a variety of classical theatre roles at the Royal National Theatre and the Old Vic, had a nude role in the film Love Actually and, in 1999, appeared as Dora Spenlow in a television film of David Copperfield, which is where she was first spotted by her husband, James Thornton, 34. They married in December 2003.

‘‘We’re a good balance for each other,” Joanna says. “He’s more measured than me and quiet when we’re out and about in public, whereas I’m fast, chatty and optimistic.

‘‘And he’s incredibly tolerant. When my blood sugar levels drop I get tired and irritable – it’s nothing to do with the thyroid, just something I’m prone to.”

Joanna experienced sheer terror when she took part last year in ITV2’s Celebrity Adrenaline Junkie, presented by Jack Osbourne, and among the hair-raising challenges, undertook a bungee jump, parachute jump, swung over a canyon in New Zealand and took part in power boat racing.

“Oh my God, that parachute jump was the closest I’ve ever got to feeling I was going to die. But I would do all of those activities again in an instant. I’m a total thrill-seeker and have been right from a child when I went on rollercoaster rides at the fairground,” she says.

Feeling the force

Haynes puts her resistance strength to the test.

WHAT IS IT? New to the UK, Gravity is a 60-minute resistance session which works every muscle in the body without the need for heavy weights.

WHAT’S IT LIKE? As a gym bunny regular stuck in a rut with my routine I find it almost impossible to really feel the burn after my workouts. That was, until I came face to face with the Gravity training machine.

The horizontal tower of metal looks exactly like the weight equipment I run a mile from at the gym, but I soon discover it’s your own body weight resting on a moving glide board that dictates exactly how the machine is used so you’re completely in control.

You can pull five per cent of your own body weight at the smallest Gravity incline and crank up the kilogrammes to pulling 59 per cent at the top end, making it suitable for exercisers of all abilities and even those recovering from injury.

Gravity offers 200 exercises and the machine can also be used as part of a group session.

From swapping between jumping squats and bicep curls in seconds, there’s no rest for the wicked with this machine took me out of my comfort zone and worked every muscle top-to-toe, without the usual need for resting in between weights because you can quickly shift to another area of the body.

It’s a demanding, high-intensity session and though I felt lengthened and lean afterwards, it didn’t leave me feeling sweaty and red-faced, which is exactly my kind of workout.

INFORMATION: The Gravity Training System is available at selected Virgin Active and Nuffield Health Clubs and independent UK gyms. Prices at Nuffield start at £150 for eight sessions. At independent studios it costs around £10 a class. For a full list visit gravityuk.net