Quotes from Ruth Jones

Marks & Spencer's in Cardiff is a really good place to get recognised.

There were times when the first thing we'd talk about in the morning was 'Stella,' and the last thing we'd talk about at night was 'Stella.'

I get into a bit of a routine on holiday with buffing and body lotions. After a long day's hard sunbathing, there's nothing better than feeling all shiny and clean.

I think drama in schools shouldn't be about, 'Let's put 'Annie' on this year' - not that there's anything wrong with that - but it's a good way of getting kids to interact, and it can be a good communication tool.

I think perhaps I'm a bit of an idealist.

I always love stories that do a big time leap where the past informs the present, where you find out what became of some characters years later.

I can understand why people want to know who 'the real Ruth Jones' is. That's human nature. But do you ever get that from an interview?

I don't want to make generalisations here, but I think that most women and maybe men are not comfortable with being overweight. It's a tricky issue.

I think comedy drama is a tricky one. But it's like in real life: often really tense, dramatic situations can be punctuated with the mundane and banal, and that's what we try to capture in 'Stella.'

I've probably been guilty of assuming people from by-gone generations were stuffy, two dimensional and a bit dull. But my trip on 'Who Do You Think You Are?' has proved the opposite to be true.

I'm blessed by having very long-term, solid friendships, and they're such joyous things.

Writing a novel is solitary, but I don't mind that.

Writing a novel can be solitary at times compared to screenwriting, but I don't mind that.

I love 'Armstrong & Miller.'

You have a different, much more intimate relationship with the characters in a novel than when writing a screenplay. You're able to get inside their heads in a different way. You can understand their motivations more.

Of course I've been in love and I married the man that I love. It was love at first voice because I spoke to him on the phone before I met him. I did fall in love with his voice.

None of us are going to get younger, there's no point in trying to chase that dream because it won't happen.

I wanted to write a book about female friendship, because it's a constant that goes right through to the end of our days. Over time, romantic love changes and often becomes something different, but friendship stays pretty much the same.

Certainly in 'Stella' there weren't really any baddies. And if there were, they were quite ineffectual baddies. And the same is true of 'Gavin & Stacey.' I like people to be redeemed.

I love talking about 'Stella.'

Without 'Gavin & Stacey,' 'Stella' wouldn't exist.

I thought I would be married with four children when I was 24 because that's what my mother did. But it didn't turn out like that. There's no reason why. It just didn't happen.

I applied to only one drama school - if I didn't get in, I would give up the whole notion. That's how much of a chance I was giving myself.

I loved character actresses like Julie Walters and Alison Steadman, films like 'Nuts in May' and 'Educating Rita.' And I never get tired of watching Larry David and 'Curb Your Enthusiasm.'