Joanna Page, the Welsh actress cherished by millions as Stacey Shipman in the beloved series Gavin and Stacey, has spoken publicly about her experiences with sexual harassment in the television industry, revealing why she once chose to stay silent after being groped by a well-known presenter. Her candid disclosures, detailed in her new memoir Lush!: My Story – From Swansea To Stacey And Everything In Between, have reignited conversations about workplace safety and the persistent challenges facing women in entertainment.
Page, now 48, recounted to the PA news agency how, early in her career, she was warned by a producer that a certain TV host was known to be “very handsy with the women.” The producer, she said, tried to normalize the behavior, telling Page, “I think he’s going to like you, so just be prepared.” For Page, the warning came with an implicit message: this was just how things worked, and she would have to manage it herself. “And it was like, ‘Oh, Ok, right, well, I can deal with that,’” she remembered.
The incident unfolded on set, where the presenter did indeed grope her. Page described how she tried to deflect the situation with humor, quipping, “God, I feel like I’m in Bristol Zoo,” as she knocked his hand away. Rather than escalate the matter, she attempted to keep things light-hearted, a coping mechanism she now recognizes as a product of the pressures faced by women in the industry. “It’s all very well saying ‘you’ve got to do this, you’ve got to do that,’ but you’re a woman, you’re in there and it’s so hard to get jobs anyway and you don’t want to make a fuss,” Page explained. “I couldn’t have sat in a studio and gone, ‘Excuse me, can we please just stop this because he’s touching me up and completely groping me? I’m not happy with this.’ For starters, I’m a people pleaser. I don’t want to make a fuss or draw attention to what’s going on. I just want to get on with it. So, the only way to deal with it was laugh it off.”
Page, who has also appeared in films such as From Hell and Love Actually and currently co-hosts the BBC podcast Off The Telly with Natalie Cassidy, said her reluctance to complain was hardly unique. In her view, the industry’s power dynamics—where jobs are scarce and competition is fierce—make it difficult for young women to speak out. “There are always going to be predators in an environment like this when you’ve got young, beautiful girls who are desperate to get a job,” she told PA. “Most of the time the people who are giving you those jobs are older men and they know that you want the job, and there’s a million girls out there trying to get the job. I think that will continue.”
Her memoir, published on September 25, 2025, lays bare not only the incidents themselves but also the emotional toll of navigating such a fraught environment. Page describes another unsettling episode at the end of a play’s run, when a well-known director entered her dressing room while she was barely clothed. She recalled, “I remember being in my knickers and wrapping the curtain around me, and this director coming and hugging me and wanting to give me a kiss and not leaving me alone. I remember holding on to the curtain and not letting it go and just carrying on the conversation, being all polite and really nice, until eventually he went because nothing was going to happen.”
Reflecting on her past, Page said that for many women, reporting harassment simply wasn’t an option. “You don’t ever go, ‘Oh God, I’m going to report this,’ because in those days you kind of didn’t, you just got on with it, it was what happened at work. It wasn’t every single job I went into, but in lots of different jobs there would be one type of thing.”
Recent years have seen the introduction of safety measures intended to address these longstanding problems. Page acknowledged that things have improved, citing the arrival of intimacy coordinators and hotlines for reporting bullying or harassment as positive steps. “I think things have got better and you’ve got intimacy coaches now who are fantastic. There’s a lot more safety there and you’ve got phone numbers you can phone to report people if you feel like you’re being bullied,” she said. Still, she remains skeptical that such changes will fully eradicate the problem. “But I think, personally, that it’s (sexual harassment) always going to continue because there’s too much opportunity for it to happen in this profession.”
Her comments echo broader concerns about the entertainment industry’s culture, where power imbalances and the pressure to “not make a fuss” can silence victims. Page’s willingness to speak openly about her experiences is, in itself, a sign of shifting attitudes, but she is clear-eyed about the obstacles that remain. “Predators will always exist in the acting industry, especially targeting young actresses desperate for work,” she said. She emphasized that while safety measures are a step forward, the underlying dynamics that allow harassment to persist are deeply entrenched.
Page’s memoir, which she wrote in a variety of unusual locations—including a disused pub car park and a car outside her house—served as a form of therapy. “The result was like a therapy session,” she said, reflecting on the cathartic process of putting her story on paper.
The timing of her revelations is notable. Gavin and Stacey aired its final episode on Christmas Day 2024, a highly anticipated event that drew a staggering 19.11 million viewers after seven days of catch-up viewing, according to official Barb ratings. This made it one of the most watched scripted TV shows of the century, surpassing even the show’s 2019 special, which had 17.92 million viewers at the same stage. The series’ enduring popularity was further cemented when it won the comedy award at the National Television Awards in September 2025.
As Page continues to engage with audiences through her acting, podcasting, and now her writing, her story stands as a reminder of both the progress made and the work still to be done in making the entertainment industry a safer place for all. For those affected by similar issues, the BBC Action Line offers resources and support.
Page’s decision to share her experiences—warts and all—offers a rare, unvarnished glimpse into the realities behind the scenes of British television. Her honesty and resilience may well inspire others to speak out, and perhaps, gradually, help to change the culture she so vividly describes.
