Ruth Jones (I)

If you were miffed when Ruth Jones stopped writing Gavin & Stacey with James Corden, don't worry - it freed her up to create this charming comedy.

Ruth plays the title character, a 42-year-old mum juggling her washing and ironing job with raising two of her kids, and visiting the third in jail.

She's the kind of character who could have easily become a caricature but in Jones's hands, she is nothing short of superb.

All of the other characters are brilliantly drawn, too. We especially like Stella's best friend Paula (Elizabeth Berrington), a fully functional alcoholic and a funeral director. The visual and verbal humour is sharp, but it is also subtle so you need to give the show your full attention.

You might, however, want to close your eyes when star turn Gillian McKeith appears. She's playing a Lizzie Webb-type version of herself. Gillian, lycra and a Swiss ball - we're going to have nightmares for years.

Ruth Jones has taken time over her first solo project - because she's subtly shifted genre. Stella has a friendly, multi-generational array of eccentrics, like the Welsh half of Gavin & Stacey, but it's definitely comedy drama: warm, undemanding, based on story and character more than gags.

Jones is Stella, a knackered divorcee with three kids, no money and no lover. You feel you know her within minutes. There's the odd superfluous line of exposition as we meet Stella's friends and family, because Jones is anxious that you get to know them, too. But when you do, you'll want to spend more Friday nights with them.

On Sky1 at 9pm there's a fine new comedy-drama called Stella, written by (and starring) Gavin & Stacey co-creator Ruth Jones.

Set in the Welsh valleys and featuring the impressively slimmed-down Ruth as a divorced mum of three, Stella isn't a laugh-every-20-seconds kind of show, and it's not meant to be, but it's got some strong characters and some great lines and I'm confident fans are going to warm to it.

Video: Ruth Jones swaps Nessa for Stella

Gavin and Stacey co-writer, Ruth Jones, has written a new series that is again set in her native South Wales. Jones says the title character, single mother Stella, is completely different from her role as Nessa in Gavin and Stacey.

Ruth Jones, of Gavin & Stacey fame, basks in the easy humour of this sharply observed comedy set in the Welsh Valleys, which she co-wrote. Jones plays Stella, a divorcee whose chaotic life involves bringing up three children (one of whom is in jail), dealing with her eccentric friends and coping with not having had sex for two years. The series's appeal balances on her nicely underwritten role and there are some great performances, notably from Elizabeth Berrington as an alcoholic funeral director, and Steve Spiers as a lovelorn lollipop man.

Ruth Jones writes and stars in a new Wales-set comedy drama about working mum-of-three Stella, her alcoholic best friend (played by Elizabeth Berrington) and various other supporting characters. Jones has powerful screen appeal and her script radiates all of the charm of Gavin & Stacey, with rather fewer of the cynical set pieces that so often marred it. Tonight, Stella visits her eldest son in prison, discovers her daughter is on the pill and finds an unusual alternative when she forgets to make her young son's costume for the school play.

Ruth Jones: I enjoy it when characters love each other

The Gavin & Stacey star talks to Sheryl Garratt about her new Sky1 comedy, Stella, which is set in the Welsh valleys.

Ruth Jones interview

Ruth Jones is best known for playing Nessa - the no-nonsense Barry Island bruiser from hit comedy Gavin & Stacey.

Ruth Jones tells of battle to shed weight

Ruth Jones, the Welsh actress, has told of her battle with weight problems and dismissed suggestions that it was the result of anything but hard work.

Ruth Jones re-meets carer for Comic Relief special

Carer Ron Lambert will be reunited with actress Ruth Jones on television during BBC One's Comic Relief programme What a Cracker, to be screened on December 28.