Quotes from Ruth Jones

When I was five, my uncle bought us a tape recorder and my dad tried to record us kids talking and singing, stuff like that. There's really quite a lot of me in a really Welsh accent going, 'Can I tell a joke? Can I sing a song?' - really annoying and brattish.

I just go broad Welsh when I'm nervous.

I got a part in the film 'Emma' in which Gwyneth was playing the lead. She was going out with Brad Pitt at the time. I asked her if, with a name like Gwyneth, she had any Welsh connections. She wasn't terribly friendly.

I'm a hugely proud Welsh person. I just love it - it's something very special, being Welsh.

I enjoy it when characters love each other. It's more interesting, actually - it's less predictable.

When I re-read my diaries, it's the self-doubt that seems to be prevalent.

Lavatorial humour is just not my cup of tea. But, having said that, I'm really of the mind that comedy is so subjective and whatever makes you laugh makes you laugh. If it doesn't make you laugh, don't watch it.

The worst experiences I've had are hotels that profess to be four or five star, when evidently they aren't.

I'm trying to learn to ask myself: 'Before you dive in are you sure you are right?' It's always safe to assume I'm wrong.

I love fallible characters.

I knew I wanted to write about female friendship. I've got a few friends I've known since we were teenagers, who have spanned the decades, and I do find that a fascinating thing, that friendship can last that length of time.

I've turned up to auditions and seen faces that I recognise and I think I know them. Then I realise I know them because they are on the telly.

I like really, properly detailed, described characters.

I have been very fortunate to play parts that have not been just, 'Oh, you need a fat person to play this part.' It's been a secondary thing or we made a feature of it.

With TV-writing, you write scenes and those scenes pretty much stay as they are when you come to filming them. Sometimes you might change things on the day because of the location or the actors' availability issues.

I will never, ever turn down a foot massage.

I have decided to stop dieting because it doesn't work for me and I am annoyed with myself for ever trying. I have decided to enjoy the body I have. I tell myself how lucky I am to have a body that functions so well.

The first thing I remember writing was a poem - about a princess who sat on a hill and sang all day - when I was eight.

I've always been a bit of a drama queen. I was into make-believe and dressing up.

I ran 10k once. I've got a medal.

I've obviously witnessed the world of TV production, and I'm just a bit fascinated by people being a bit awful.

Even when bad things happen, you always want to move forward.

Gavin and Stacey' really seems to have been taken into people's hearts and we're really thrilled about it.

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.