In the special documentary, Ruth and Steve: From Porthcawl With Love, the actress showed her friend of 34 years around her hometown
21:00, 15 Dec 2025Updated 21:58, 15 Dec 2025
Stella co-stars Ruth Jones and Steve Spiers once again have reunited, this time in Porthcawl(Image: BBC/ITV Cymru Wales)
Sometimes there are certain places that remind us of our childhoods, that could be going up your grandparents’ garden or perhaps somewhere you’ve been on holiday. For Ruth Jones, who grew up in Porthcawl, Rest Bay brought back those childhood memories.
In a special documentary called Ruth and Steve: From Porthcawl With Love, the actress shows her Stella co-star and friend of 34 years, Steve Speirs, around her hometown. During the series Ruth opened up about growing up in Porthcawl and her late father, who documented their memories on cine films.
Starting their journey around the town, Steve greeted Ruth in an old Austin car, much like the car her father had when she was a child. For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter
They met up with Ruth’s family, including her brothers Mark and Julian, little sister Maria, and her mum Hannah, as they all gathered around the TV to watch their home movies.
Ruth shared: “He left us a beautiful record of our lives growing up in Porthcawl, and this is the first time we’ve had his old films out for years.”
These included videos of Ruth dancing in front of the camera. Steve asked Mrs Jones if she knew Ruth would be a performer, to which she replied: “Oh yeah, yeah, she was always so very bossy as well.”
When heading back to her hometown, the pair met up with her family to watch old home movies(Image: BBC/ITV Cymru Wales)
During a Q&A event hosted by BBC Wales and ITV Wales at Hi-tide Café in Porthcawl on Thursday, December 11, Ruth became quite emotional as she shared her experience of re-watching the home movies.
She said: “My dad was really good at organising things. He was really good at like keeping records of things and you know, you see this box of Cine films and he labelled them so meticulously. It was a real privilege to have such a happy upbringing and to have captured those memories.
“It was lovely also to be able to see Porthcawl back in the sixties and seventies captured on those records, the swimming pools that that are no longer there down on the beach front, and also seeing my loving mum who’s just over there now, who’s eighty-nine next month, and she’s such a beautiful woman.”
During the documentary the pair visited some of Porthcawl’s popular locations including the Grand Pavilion, Coney Beach, Rest Bay, Trecco Bay Caravan Park, and they even headed to the Elvis festival, which is the largest of its kind in the UK.
They also took part in an RNLI drill with Ruth’s sister, her brother Mark’s open mic night, and they volunteered at Porthcawl’s weekly park run with her brother Julian.
Ruth said during the Q&A: “Obviously my siblings still live here, my lovely mum is over there somewhere. They are so much a part of the community, you know, Mark with his open mic night and Maria, Julian and mum with the park run. So you really get a sense of community. That’s the thing you know, and I don’t live here anymore and I’m a little bit jealous. I’m not gonna lie.”
During the documentary, when visiting Rest Bay, Ruth asked her friend: “Would you say that you were somebody who gets very nostalgic all the time, or do you like to kind of stay a bit in the moment, in the day?”
Steve replied: “It’s nice to talk about the past, but on the other hand there’s something about… like for example being by the sea. It’s so evocative, so you’re suddenly back with childhood holidays, aren’t you? For me, then, there’s flashing images that come back and they’re happy, but I don’t linger really.”
Childhood memories flooded back when Ruth visited Rest Bay(Image: BBC/ITV Cymru Wales)
Ruth added: “I think coming back here, particularly, I do think a lot about my dad. My dad used to bring us down when we was very little, we would play on the beach and then, of course, running around on the sand. I do sort of still feel that my dad is around. So I think certain places, don’t they, they do make you feel closer to the people that have gone.”
Steve comforted Ruth, saying: “I like the idea that a young Ruth Jones is down there somewhere, playing with her dad still. Do you know what I mean? I think that’s really lovely. Perhaps it’s all happening down there – just that we can’t see it.”
When taking a dip in the sea after over a decade, Ruth shared: “So I have not been in the sea here in Rest Bay since I was about 16, 17. Just makes you feel really, really alive. I don’t want to sound pretentious, but it does. I haven’t had that feeling in over 40 years. Amazing.”
Ending the programme, Steve shared: “I’ve had the best time. It’s just really weirdly made me feel sort of young again.” Ruth added: “I just loved reliving I guess my youth and growing up in Porthcawl. It’s been really nice for me to realise how lucky I was really growing up and what a lovely family life I had.”
Steve continued: “You know, we may be middle aged, we may have dodgy knees, but we ain’t beaten yet. And I’m definitely looking forwards and not backwards.”
They then toasted to their weekend in Porthcawl, and in memory of Ruth’s father Richard, with a sizeable gin and tonic much like he used to drink.
You can watch Ruth and Steve: From Porthcawl With Love on BBC iPlayer now.