Adrian Scarborough has opened up about his Gavin and Stacey co-star Julia Davis and revealed why she was "hard to work with".
Of course, the two played on-screen couple Pete and Dawn in the BBC One show who were always at each other’s throats. But off-screen it was a very different story as the duo struggled to even finish a scene together without breaking into laughter.
Adrian has worked with his fair share of comedy greats from French & Saunders to Sandra Oh and Miranda Hart, but when the star worked with Julia Davis he just "couldn’t keep it together".
The Killing Eve actor explained to the Metro: "I actually find Julia Davis hard to work with. She performs right on the edge of corpsing."
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"I think there’s some outtakes from series three and a scene where we were all around the table – [Alison] Steadman, Larry Lamb, myself and her – and she and I could not keep it together. Then Steaders [Steadman] went."
The actors couldn’t even finish the scene, and in the end the director said: "'I don’t think there’s anything else for it but to take a 15- to 20-minute break to let everybody calm down.'"
Therefore, it’s no surprise that Adrian described the Gavin and Stacey Christmas reunion as a being "a joy".
He told the outlet: "It was just a joy. It’s an excuse to laugh for a fortnight, go out for dinners and drink too much with Alison Steadman.
Related: How dated is Gavin and Stacey?
"Julia Davis and I just popped in every now and again so we never did any of the donkey work, really, and people were always relieved to see a new face on set – we were welcomed with open arms."
In his latest role, Adrian is moving away from comedy to star as DI Max Arnold in a new drama, The Chelsea Detective.
Discussing his leading role with the publication, Adrian admitted it was "the first time I’ve been number one on a call sheet, which is pretty terrifying if you’ve got to this ripe old age and are not used to it."
He added: "I’m a character actor who pops in every now and again so I grabbed a leading role with both hands."
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Jess is a freelance writer and editor with a passion for over-analysing everyone’s favourite movies and TV shows. As an English graduate from the University of York with an MA in Creative Writing, Jess worked as a magazine editor before turning freelance. Since then, Jess has written for outlets such as GQ, The Guardian, Inverse, Huff Post, Stylist, and Insider. She specialises in the representation of mental health, grief, and women in film. She’s also a major Marvel nerd and is writing a YA fantasy novel. LinkedIn
