Gavin and Stacey’s Nessa to read old Shipping Forecast

Gavin and Stacey character Nessa is one of a raft of famous voices who will recreate old versions of the Shipping Forecast on BBC Radio 4 on New Year’s Day to celebrate 100 years of the weather report.

Barry Island’s finest will appear in the centenary celebrations alongside the likes of Dame Ellen MacArthur and The Archers’ Eddie Grundy.

Ruth Jones, who plays Stacey’s best mate on the show, said: “Nessa has got quite a colourful history and one of her jobs was on the high seas. The Shipping Forecast was always very important and useful to her.”

The BBC sitcom’s finale attracted an average of 12.3 million TV viewers – the largest Christmas Day audience in more than a decade.

Jones recently told the BBC’s Colin Paterson that she and writing partner/co-star James Corden “felt very lucky to get to choose to end it, rather than to be told, ‘Sorry, we don’t want anymore'”.

She will reprise her role on a special day for the Shipping Forecast – a Met Office broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the British Isles.

It will also see Ambridge’s loveable rogue Eddie Grundy (Trevor Harrison) and round the world sailing record-breaker Dame Ellen MacArthur read historic weather reports and recall memories.

Formert Coronation Street star Julie Hesmondhalgh and actors Stephen Fry and Adrian Dunbar will also be involved.

Comedian Paul Sinha, poet Imtiaz Dharker and writers Ian McMillan and Val McDermid will feature too alongside Damon Albarn.

Radio 4 controller Mohit Bakaya described The Shipping Forecast, which was referenced by Albarn in the Blur track This is a Low, as “one of our national treasures”.

He said: “As well as providing crucial information for seafarers over the years, the Shipping Forecast is also a cherished ritual that distils the essence of Radio 4 for so many of our listeners.

“It is also a moment for those great, unsung heroes and heroines of the Radio 4 schedule – the continuity announcers – to shine.”

The Shipping Forecast is produced by the Met Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

It was first broadcast on 1 January 1924 as a weather bulletin called Weather Shipping before moving to the BBC a year later.

To mark its 100th anniversary, BBC presenter Paddy O’Connell will also present a documentary about the history of the forecast, while historian Jerry Brotton will explore how Britain is shaped by its maritime past.