Gavin & Stacey star Joanna Page has revealed she was once kidnapped by a taxi driver who threatened to strip her and take naked photos during a harrowing 90-minute ordeal.
The actress, 48, said the incident happened in 2004 while she was in South Africa filming the BBC period drama To the Ends of the Earth.
Speaking on a podcast, she described the moment she realised she was in serious danger.
She recalled: “I just remember thinking, ‘Oh my God’, you know how most of the time you get in dodgy situations but think you can get yourself out of it quite easily.
“But it was the only situation I think I've ever been in in my life where I thought ‘you’re in the shit. 'This is serious. You can’t get yourself out of this. I don’t know what I’m going to do.’”
Page said the driver held her captive, vowing to “take off all my clothes”, while driving her around for an hour and a half.
She managed to keep him talking until he eventually returned her to her hotel.
“I got out of the car and ran straight up to reception,” she shared. “I was in such a state and told them everything that had happened.
“They said, ‘you’re so incredibly lucky. Just never ever do anything like that again’.”
The shocking ordeal happened only weeks before her To the Ends of the Earth co-star Benedict Cumberbatch was himself the victim of an attempted kidnapping in South Africa.
Her harrowing retelling of the incident comes after she said she was “groped” by a TV show host after being warned about his behaviour.
The Welsh TV star recalled how a female producer told her he “could be very handsy” and is “probably going to start touching you” in her new book Lush!, according to the Times.
She told The Times: “Halfway through filming, he starts groping me.
“I hit his hands and said: ‘What do you think you’re bloody doing? Keep your f***ing hands to yourself! … Jesus, I feel like I’m in Bristol Zoo being mauled by the lions.’
“He stopped. It was bizarre, a female producer telling you this was going to happen, but it’s what you got used to.”
Asked why doesn’t she name him, she told the Times: “The legal people said: ‘Be careful!’”
Page is best known for playing Stacey in the hit sitcom Gavin And The Stacey, which aired its final episode last year and took home the comedy gong at the National Television Awards earlier this month.
The episode enjoyed huge overnight ratings of 12.3 million when it was shown on BBC One on Christmas Day.
Page’s autobiography, Lush!: My Story – From Swansea To Stacey And Everything In Between, tracks her journey to stardom and is out now.
