'There's no Gavin and Stacey without Fat Friends'

It's a drama about a fictional slimming club - and the set where Ruth Jones and James Corden first met.

Fat Friends came to our screens seven years before the Welsh-English comedy classic Gavin and Stacey.

The show, set in Leeds, is now winning new fans after dropping on Netflix.

One of the cast members, Gaynor Faye, said Gavin and Stacey may never have existed without Fat Friends.

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In series one of Fat Friends, first broadcast 24 years ago, Jones played Kelly Chadwick, a bride-to-be struggling to fit into her wedding dress, while Corden was bullied teenager Jamie Rymer.

Jones said she only found out the series was back on screen after a text from Corden saying it was number two on Netflix.

Former Coronation Street and Emmerdale star Faye, who played Lauren in the series, also had similar surprised calls when the series appeared on Netflix.

It was Faye's mum, the late Kay Mellor, who wrote the series.

"Fat Friends was a phenomenon," Faye told the Lucy Owen programme on BBC Radio Wales.

"My mum knew what people wanted to watch and everyone is affected by weight.

"Whether you're too small, too big - or you think you are - and she saw the fun in everything."

Alison Steadman and Sheridan Smith - who played Pam and Rudi in Gavin and Stacey respectively - also appeared in Fat Friends.

"Ruth and James may not have met if it wasn't for Fat Friends and I know they were writing while they were on Fat Friends," Faye said.

Its four series originally ran from 2000 to 2005 on ITV.

"My mum gave Ruth her first writing break because Ruth said, 'Oh I'd like to be writer' so she came and worked on The Chase which was another of my mum's dramas.

"So she kind of cut her teeth on my mum's drama... she's got a lot to answer for my mum, most of it wonderful."

Faye said her mum also supported Swansea-born Russell T Davies - who is behind such work as Queer As Folk, It's A Sin and Doctor Who - when he was starting out as a writer.

"She's done incredible work and inspired so many incredible writers now and mentored so many people.

"She's found actors like James Corden, Jude Law, she's mentored writers [like] Ruth Jones, Sally Wainwright, Russell T Davies, myself.

"Her work is incredible and it needs to be celebrated. I'm just so pleased it's out there and that other people are getting to watch it."

Although Fat Friends is back on screens, Jones said there were no plans for any new episodes of Gavin and Stacey.

She said: "As I've said many, many, many, many times, James and I would announce it and we haven't announced anything."

The last episode ended with Nessa's proposal to Smithy. So does Ruth know what his answer is?

"No, I don't. That's where it was left.

"I think it's quite nice that people can just imagine for themselves what happened, you know?"

Gaynor Faye's interview with Lucy Owen on BBC Radio Wales was first broadcast on Saturday is available to listen to on BBC Sounds

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