Wynne Evans and Joanna Page take epic journey along Welsh coastline in new series

Old friends Wynne Evans and Joanna Page cast off on a boating adventure, sailing along the beautiful Welsh coastline from Cardiff to St Davids in brand new series – Wynne & Joanna: All at Sea.

Opera singer, BBC Wales presenter and Strictly Come Dancing star, Wynne Evans joins his friend and actress, Joanna Page, who played Stacey in one of Britain’s best loved sitcoms, Gavin & Stacey, for a fun-fueled adventure.

Taking a break from their busy lives, the trip gives the pair the chance to re-connect with their homeland, spend quality time together and most importantly, have a laugh –  and they manage to pick up some (basic) sailing skills along the way.

Accompanied by Skipper Wayne, and Wynne’s dog Ginny, their adventure takes them roughly 200 miles by boat from Cardiff to Pembrokeshire.

Hometown

The pair stop off at some special places along the way, including Penarth, where they join a rowing club; Barry Island, which plays an important part in Joanna’s life as the setting for Gavin & Stacey; Joanna’s hometown of Swansea and Wynne’s home county of Carmarthenshire.

They also stop off at Saundersfoot and Tenby, and have the experience of a lifetime swimming with Puffins on Skomer Island, before their final stop at Britain’s smallest city, St Davids.

The pair sat down for an interview about the new series…

What was it like filming the series?

Wynne: “The series was the best fun I’ve ever had filming a TV series! We just got on from the start as we always have, and we laughed our way through the entire series. It was brilliant fun.”

Joanna: “To be honest it was quite life changing filming the series, it was brilliant having such freedom, getting to go off on a boat with a really good friend of mine and just be free.

“I had no responsibilities other than not crashing Wayne’s boat, but it was a chance to sort of go back to the old me and rediscover myself again. I was learning new things to do with the boat, and then all of the water sports we did – the surfing and kayaking and paddle-boarding, it was all things I’d never thought about doing before.

“It was so good to be doing something so physical, and right next to the sea air and being in the water, throwing your body around so much and doing a brand new physical sport that was so exhausting, doing stuff like that really takes you out of your mind and out everything you usually think about or worry about, out of your everyday things. It was great getting back to what life’s all about – having fun!

“On top of that, Wynne, who’s a MasterChef winner, would cook for me, we’d have lovely bottles of wine on the boat. Wayne sailed us around everywhere, we spotted seals, we went swimming with puffins – it was exhilarating, it was life changing and it just opened my eyes up to what I could be doing in the world and in my life. It was brilliant fun and I don’t think I’ve laughed that much in a long time.”

You’re obviously good friends, so why was this trip together so special?

Joanna: “This trip with Wynne was so special because we’ve both got such busy lives and it’s really difficult to connect with each other and get to spend time together. We’ll go out for the odd meal together, spend a few evenings together and that’s it for a few months because I’ve got my kids and he’s out and about opera singing and dancing with Strictly, we’re both really busy people so it was important to get to spend time with a good friend.

“I’m with my family, my husband and my dog all the time, so I don’t really get a lot of time to hang out with my mates and just go back to the old Jo, having a laugh. So it was really good to connect with a friend and have Wynne just really make me laugh. It aired the lungs, it was really good fun.”

Wynne: “Because we got to spend proper quality time together, it was so lovely! It was also exactly the same when the cameras were turned off to what it was with the cameras on. We went and had dinner together every single night. It was just such good fun to reconnect and chat absolute rubbish with each other.”

What’s the secret to your friendship?

Joanna: “I think the secret to our friendship is that we don’t judge each other at all. We’re not judgey, we’re not precious, we’re not ambitious in wanting to do outdo each other.

“It’s literally like we are teenagers having a laugh, going around town, having a drink and just being back in Wales together. It’s a good old fashioned friendship. He’s so funny, we just make each other laugh.

“We’re completely and utterly honest with each other, there is nothing that I wouldn’t say or haven’t said to him. We take the mick out of each other but we ultimately love each other so much and he makes me laugh like no one else.”

Wynne: “We just don’t wind each other up so it’s really, really good fun. We never have a cross word to say, but we just take the mickey out of each other from morning until night and I think laughter is the secret of the friendship. Really, we laugh all the time – nobody makes me laugh like Jo does.”

What was your favourite moment from the trip?

Wynne: “There were so many good moments I have to say, but I think it was the simplest things that were the nicest. I enjoyed kayaking with her when I fell in the water because I actually thought she was going to laugh so much that she was going to fall in as well. There’s so many good moments to the programme.”

Joanna: “I have so many favourite moments from the trip. Surfing, for me, on my own was one of my most favourite things because I just didn’t want to come out of the sea. I was like my spaniel when she looks at me like ‘there’s no way in hell I’m coming out’.

“Wynne had had enough after his second go of surfing, and he was stood on the side just going ‘come on, get out of the sea, I’ve had enough’. I kept promising it would be just be one more go. It was so exhilarating, it was just out of this world.”

What has the trip taught you?

Wynne: “I’m not sure I’ll ever be experienced enough to work on the sea, I still get sea sickness – so does Jo! But it taught me that making time for each other and friendship is the most important thing in life and not just material things, so it’s been really good for me as a person.”

Joanna: “This trip has taught me to sort of just go back to the old me. You get so bogged down in your responsibility and in life, in looking after the kids, the school runs, organising everybody and everything, and on top of all that you’re trying to work as well… it’s just so much.

“It’s made me realise what’s important, and that’s that we all have fun and we bring a lightness back to our life, and not get so bogged down in the responsibility of everything.

“Also to put some time aside for myself – going and doing some swimming or a yoga class, it’s not a thing to feel bad about. I can’t always be everything to everyone, sometimes I’ve got to take that little five minutes to myself. It’s brought back the importance of friendship and the importance of myself.”

Wynne & Joanna: All at Sea is produced by Barn Media for BBC Cymru Wales and was commissioned by Sorelle Neil, commissioner for BBC Cymru Wales.

The series producer was Julia Foot and the executive producers were Brett Allen and Ceri Barnett.

Wynne & Joanna: All at Sea on BBC One, will air on BBC One Wales and iPlayer from 27 January at 8:30pm.