Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think Anna Maxwell Martin ‘made’ Gavin and Stacey?

194 replies

Jumell · 27/12/2024 09:34

When I first saw her on screen, I literally couldn’t believe my eyes.

As a whole it was pleasant enough and watchable albeit a bit boring in parts - e.g the whole stag do thing was bit ‘meh’ - but I couldn’t just sit through it without scrolling through phone which is terrible habit I know

OP posts:
SensibleSigma · 28/12/2024 20:27

AMM has been excellent in costume drama, police procedurals, thrillers, and apparently motherland.
She’s excellent, and very versatile.

I liked her school ma’am celebrant. Stand up if you think they should not get married!

BIossomtoes · 28/12/2024 20:26

Fratty · 28/12/2024 20:23

I really think you, and most others, missed the point in the casting

Show quote history

Go on then, tell us what we missed.

Fratty · 28/12/2024 20:23

CandleLamp · 27/12/2024 09:38

I like Anna Maxwell Martin but I didn’t think her performance in Gavin and Stacey was very noteworthy.

I really think you, and most others, missed the point in the casting

Fratty · 28/12/2024 20:22

😅 How can you be so snarky about a show you openly admit to not having watched? Bizarre.

Watched with my partner who is a fan. Takes all sorts

suki1964 · 28/12/2024 20:17

Jumell · 27/12/2024 09:34

When I first saw her on screen, I literally couldn’t believe my eyes.

As a whole it was pleasant enough and watchable albeit a bit boring in parts - e.g the whole stag do thing was bit ‘meh’ - but I couldn’t just sit through it without scrolling through phone which is terrible habit I know

Obviously not a G&S fan?

She made G&S? Go give your head a wobble

What made G&S was the excellent writing/acting and tying up everything, harking back to every series that went before. Every classic episode was referred back to

LAlady · 28/12/2024 20:16

I saw Anna Maxwell Martin in a play at The Old Vic. Was this summer and she was the lead alongside James Corden. Both very good.

Itisjustmyopinion · 28/12/2024 20:11

Jumell · 27/12/2024 16:39

But AS was already established in it

Very unusual to get a high calibre actor to play a tiny role

Show quote history

It’s not that unusual when James Corden was in a play with her for weeks just before they started filming. It was likely a chat backstage at The Old Vic “Anna are you free next Sunday to do a quick cameo in G&S”

AliceMcK · 28/12/2024 20:03

LoafofSellotape · 27/12/2024 09:36

No. I don't get the love for her on MN or Olivia Coleman either.

I had to look her up as I’d never heard of her then I saw she was the annoying one out of Motherland who acts the same in everything just like Olivia Coleman. Completely overrated and added nothing to Gavin and Stacey.

StScholastica · 28/12/2024 20:01

She is a great actress and I loved that they asked her to be the dry and foreboding celebrant. So different to the celebrant who married Smithy and Nessa.
She didn't steal the show though, for me, Nessa owned it. Closely followed by baby Neil.

magicalmrmistoffelees · 28/12/2024 19:54

BIossomtoes · 28/12/2024 19:52

Who gives a shit? I watch his work for entertainment not to make character judgements.

Show quote history

Agreed. I’m sure there are absolutely loads of actors who I wouldn’t want to spend time with in real life. So what? I’m never going to meet them, so why does it matter. I watch them for the entertainment, not their real life personality.

Fargo79 · 28/12/2024 19:53

BIossomtoes · 28/12/2024 19:52

Who gives a shit? I watch his work for entertainment not to make character judgements.

Show quote history

Cool. I was responding to a point made by another PP 👍

BIossomtoes · 28/12/2024 19:52

Fargo79 · 28/12/2024 19:41

Isn't he pretty well known for being awful to people in service roles? I think lots of higher ups, be they celebs or not, are dreadful to people of no consequence to them whilst looking after their friends. It's an age old personality type unfortunately.

Show quote history

Who gives a shit? I watch his work for entertainment not to make character judgements.

Fargo79 · 28/12/2024 19:42

Fratty · 27/12/2024 18:36

Glad I spared myself

Show quote history

😅 How can you be so snarky about a show you openly admit to not having watched? Bizarre.

Fargo79 · 28/12/2024 19:41

TheHallmarkedMan · 27/12/2024 23:24

I'll say one thing for James Corden, he retains his friends and gets them gigs. For someone so allegedly awful, that's not nothing.

Isn't he pretty well known for being awful to people in service roles? I think lots of higher ups, be they celebs or not, are dreadful to people of no consequence to them whilst looking after their friends. It's an age old personality type unfortunately.

Clafoutie · 28/12/2024 14:51

I love AMM and think she is a fantastic actor, but for me Alison Steadman and Ruth Jones are the stand out performances in Gavin and Stacey. That said, I only really enjoy the show in a low key sort of way. I don’t mind it but don’t feel as excited about it as lots of others do. Each to their own!
Also, credit to the show for being really the only thing of note to be aired on television ( along with Wallace and Gromit), in my opinion! I think these shows stand out so much because there is such a dearth of any original and well written material elsewhere.

Fratty · 28/12/2024 14:11

I think the casting of AMM was quite deliberate. Definitely got DCS Carmichael vibes, which I think was the intention. She was so joyless as the celebrant, which reflected the impending marriage.

And for anyone saying AMM is a lesser actor, you mustn't have seen Until I Kill You. She buys and sells the rest of the Gavin and Stacey cast as an actor. And I say that as a fan of Alison S.

IKEAJesus · 28/12/2024 11:16

No idea who she is, possibly because from reading the thread she seems to be most famous for Motherland, which I’ve never watched.

Hardly what I’d consider “high calibre” considering the rest of the cast and what they’ve been in.

And I thought the vicar was crap, so if that’s what she played she definitely didn’t make it.

deeahgwitch · 28/12/2024 11:11

TheHallmarkedMan · 27/12/2024 23:24

I'll say one thing for James Corden, he retains his friends and gets them gigs. For someone so allegedly awful, that's not nothing.

That's true.

SnowFrogJelly · 28/12/2024 00:31

YABU

NoCarbsForMe · 28/12/2024 00:12

Pixilicious1 · 27/12/2024 16:14

Am I missing something here - the woman from motherland and people can’t believe she appeared in another comedy show. I feel like I’ve slipped into a parallel universe.

I also don’t get the reverence for Olivia Coleman

Agreed! Both these actors annoy the absolute crap out of me.

TheHallmarkedMan · 27/12/2024 23:24

I'll say one thing for James Corden, he retains his friends and gets them gigs. For someone so allegedly awful, that's not nothing.

JudgeJ · 27/12/2024 23:12

BIossomtoes · 27/12/2024 18:32

Couldn’t you? When they’d got Alison Steadman and Russell Povey? Seriously?

Show quote history

I didn't realise that a lot of the stags were who Cordon had worked with in The History Boys.

ThinWomansBrain · 27/12/2024 23:07

It was a very small bit part - hardly "made" the program

I did enjoy it - I get that not everyone did - but if you didn't, why not turn it off?

she was in a play with James Cordon summer/autumn time, maybe she got/took the part because of that.

JudgeJ · 27/12/2024 23:06

DappledThings · 27/12/2024 16:37

As opposed to unknown newcomer Alison Steadman you mean?

Show quote history

I watched a programme about Maggie Smith's amazing career recently and she said it was a bit depressing that her 'legacy' will be for many that she was in Downton Abbey, and Alison Steadman will probably be the same, a fabulous career forgotten.

TheHallmarkedMan · 27/12/2024 23:00

I think if Keanu Reeves had stepped up to officiate I'd have a "Whoa" response, but AMM, not so much