British comedian Mo Gilligan has reflected fondly on spending summer holidays in Barry, and joked that a cameo in Gavin and Stacey would have been a missed opportunity.
Childhood Summers in Barry
The 38-year-old, known for hosting Channel 4's 'The Lateish Show with Mo Gilligan' and appearing on The Masked Singer and The Masked Dancer, spoke to Lucy Jones on BBC Radio Wales. He said: "So my grandad was from Grangetown in Cardiff. So I've got a lot of family in Cardiff, a lot of family in Barry as well. So as a kid, I spent loads of six weeks holiday—Jackson's Bay, Barry Island Beach."
Although he is from London, his heritage lies in Wales, and he has often spoken about his Welsh history. The pair discussed the island's iconic log flumes, which led Mo to reminisce about his time there.
Fond Memories of the Beach
The comedian added: "I look back at that and stuff, and you think of like, you've got so many, I don't know, huge theme parks and stuff. At least it gives you the access to go on a funfair and go to the beach. No one doesn't like going to the beach and getting a stick of rock and playing on that kind of—you know that kind of penny machine where it goes down and you've got to...yeah, really, really fond memories."
The radio host joked that Mo should have had a cameo in Gavin and Stacey, saying "it's a missed opportunity." He joked: "I know, James Corden could've just wrote me in as like the random black cousin, you know what I mean? That could just turn up in Barry, that would have been perfect. But hey ho, who knows though? You never know, it might come back. People would be mad confused, they'd be like, 'How? How are you in this?'"
Barry Put on the Map
He explained that it was nice to see that the show shone a light on the location of his childhood holidays. Mo said: "It was nice to see that it got like put on the map, you know what I mean? So when I mention it now, people are like, 'Oh, it's Gavin & Stacey, that's where it's based.'"
Following his performance at Cardiff's Utilita Arena last year, the comedian declared there is "no better place to perform in the world than Cardiff." At the time, he posted on his Instagram story: "I've been coming here since I was a child and there is no better place to perform in the world than Cardiff. Thank you to everyone who came out to support me tonight. I enjoyed tonight so so much."
