Why Gavin & Stacey actress Alison Steadman doesn't drive like her Life character Gail

TV legend Alison Steadman wants everyone to know that her driving is nowhere near as erratic as her character’s efforts in Life, the new midweek drama on BBC1 by Doctor Foster writer, Mike Barlett.

The actress plays Gail who in the first episode almost mows down an old friend in Manchester as she races to collect her husband Henry (Peter Davison) from the hospital.

Speeding through the back streets of Manchester, her concentration waives as she talks to Henry on the phone.

“I hate speeding actually,” she said at a launch. “The older I’ve got, the slower I’ve got.”

She added: “I don’t drive like Gail -- but I do like her as a character. I loved going on a journey with her.”

In the drama, a house in Manchester has been divided into four flats, and we are introduced to four interweaving stories about love, parenthood, loss and self-discovery.

Along with Steadman’s storyline, the ordered life of Belle (Victoria Hamilton, reprising her role from Doctor Foster) is thrown into disarray by the hospitalisation of sister Ruth (Susannah Fielding), and the subsequent arrival of wayward niece Maya (Erin Kellyman).

Like her character, Steadman, known for her comedy performance as Pam in Gavin & Stacey, has also turned 70. 

She said: “I’ve turned 70 [now 74]. It’s a big milestone like 40, 50, and 60. It makes you think and this is what is happening to Gail. Suddenly she’s reflecting.”

Gail appears to have an epiphany at her birthday party.

“I had a lovely 70th. We are all living everyday as a new day.”

Life, BBC1, Tuesdays