The woman who lives in the real Gavin and Stacey house in Barry has thanked the TV show for saving her life – and helping her beat loneliness and depression.
Glenda Kenyon owns the small terraced house used in the filming of the TV favourite due back on Christmas Day.
And she has had more than 30,000 visitors travelling to Barry, South Wales, to see the house where Stacey grew up with her mother, Pam.
The 66-year-old believes the show transformed her life after years off work with chronic and severe depression – and put her smile back on her face.
She said: ‘It was a lonely life – I was going through hell with the depression. I never had many people to talk to.
Glenda Kenyon, 66, owns the small terraced house used in the filming of the TV favourite due back on Christmas Day
Joanna Page, who plays Stacey, and Rob Brydon, who plays Uncle Bryn, filming on location in Barry, South Wales
Rob Brydon, who plays Uncle Bryn, and Alison Steadman, who plays Pam, filming for the much loved TV show (left). More than 30,000 people have visited the home in Barry to see the terraced house featured in the hit series (right)
‘But now I have people coming from all over the world to see the Gavin and Stacey house. The visitors are fantastic.
‘I love it – it has changed my life for the better.’
Glenda – who has suffered from arthritis – has had her home used in virtually every episode since 2006.
TV bosses sent her and neighbours said they were looking for possible locations to shoot a new comedy.
Producers selected her house in Barry, South Wales, as Stacey’s family home in the show.
James Corden, who plays Smithy, and Ruth Jones who plays Nessa, take a break while filming the show
Hundreds of people queue up to see the filming taking place at Glenda’s home in Barry, South Wales
Joanna Page, who plays Stacey (left) and Ruth Jones (right) who plays Nessa filming the hit series
She is put up in hotels during filming – and has loved watching it.
Glenda said: ‘I kept saying, ‘That’s my house, that’s my ornament’. I really got into it and absolutely loved it.’
‘I started to talk to people, something I’d not done in a long time,’ she said.
‘I still have ups and downs – but it brought me out of this silence I was in.’
The house is part of an official Gavin and Stacey tour along with being a favourite for hen parties.
She no longer has ‘Gwen’s’ cream sofa because the seats began to collapse – she thinks because so many people sat on it.
James Corden, who plays Smithy, takes a selfie with a fan, and, pictured right, Glenda’s house where the hit series is filmed
A stack of visitor books have been signed by people from as far afield as Australia and Hawaii.
Glenda now has a sign in the window inviting fans to quietly take photos. But between noon and 7pm she asks visitors to knock so she can meet them.
She was delighted when the new special was filmed in the summer – but shocked at the crowds.
‘I don’t think they were expecting those crowds,’ said Glenda,.
But like everyone else she will find out on Christmas Day what has happened in the last ten years.
‘I can’t wait. I’m going to be glued to it from 8.30pm.’