Copyright manchestereveningnews
Gavin and Stacey legend Alison Steadman has admitted that she endured an ‘awful time’ after suffering a ‘serious’ fall in Dubai as she provided a health update. The 79-year-old is best known for her role playing Pam Shipman in the iconic BBC sitcom, featuring in last year’s series finale. Airing on Christmas Day, viewers saw Pam and her husband Mick, played by Larry Lamb, playing a pivotal role in James Corden’s Smithy’s realisation that he loved Nessa, played by Ruth Jones. Having also appeared in James and Ruth’s first show Far Friends, Alison is one of the stars of the BBC’s ongoing hit sitcom Here We Go, where she plays Jim Howick’s mum. Alison was left seriously injured in January after tripping on an uneven concrete walkway while having dinner at a restaurant in the Dubai desert. Suffering a broken metatarsal bone in her foot and a fractured hand, Alison was left dependent on a wheelchair. She previously told the Daily Star: "I knew when I fell that it was serious. The pain was so bad. If I’d banged my head the way I banged my foot, I promise you, I would not be here. Every time I get fed up, I say that to myself. “The important thing is that I’m alive… I’ve been in a wheelchair for eight weeks. I am getting a bit frustrated. I want to get out and about more. But it means I can get around my flat. I can move around. Otherwise I’d be in bed or sitting in a chair and I don’t want that." Speaking to The Mirror at the Comedy Women In Print Prize at London’s Groucho Club on Tuesday (November 3), Alison revealed that she’s back walking again. “That fall was just terrible, shocking - it was an awful time. I’ve got to have another operation on my foot soon, to take the metal screws out of it. “But I've finally just stopped using a stick, which is great - I am walking again, hurrah,” she exclaimed. Meanwhile, Alison will be back on TV screens at Christmas for a festive edition of Here We Go , which aired its third season during the summer. “Oh, I’m delighted. I just love it, being part of that family. I love working with the likes of Jim Hawick and Katherine Parkinson. It's a great cast and the writing is just superb,” she teased. Following the Jessop family, Here We Go is essentially the Royal Family mixed with Friday Night Dinner in the sense that it’s the characters who drive the story. Despite work and family-related commitments always cropping up, the family never fails to make time to spend time with each other.
