Mathew Horne says Alison Steadman is like a mother to him in real life

Mathew Horne says that Alison Steadman is like a mum to him in real life.

The duo played mother and son, Gavin and Pam, in \'Gavin and Stacey\', which will return on Christmas Day after a nine-year absence, and Mathew believes their bond extends further than the screen.

Speaking at the Samsung KX \'Thread Talks\' event, Mathew said: "We all got together to read [the \'Gavin & Stacey\' script] for a big read through in July and it was extraordinary - really quite emotional actually. Particularly seeing Alison again who plays Pamela because she\'s sort of like a mum to me, you know?"

Joanna Page and Mathew Horne Reunite for New Intimate Podcast

The 41-year-old actor also opened up about the "amazing" feeling of getting back together with the cast.

He added: "It was amazing to get back together, it was really nerve-wracking but it was really, really wonderful to get back together with everybody."

He also admitted that it was Ruth Jones, who plays \'Nessa\' and co-writes the show with James Corden, who told him that the show would return.

James Corden branded 'toughest and most obnoxious presenter.'

Mathew recalled: "I first found out from Ruth actually, I think they divided up between themselves, James and Ruth sort of said \'I\'ll take this half and you take that half\'. And Ruth Whatsapped me saying we\'ve got this script.

"I had no idea, even though I had been talking to both Ruth and James all of last year and I\'d known she\'d flown out to LA to see him."

Mathew, who has also starred in \'The Catherine Tate Show\' and \'Bad Education\', discussed his favourite Twitter moment at the event, but urged viewers to stay away from the social media platform when \'Gavin and Stacey\' airs on Christmas Day.

Alison Steadman would be 'in heaven' if Gavin and Stacey returned

He said: "I will certainly watch it on Christmas Day and I will probably look at Twitter afterwards but I really don\'t live tweet during it.

"If there were ad breaks, that would be fine, but it\'s an hour of a show which people really like. And I\'ve seen it and I can hand on heart say I think it\'s really great and I hope people will really love it and I hope that people just put their phones down for one minute or 59 minutes and just watch it."

Samsung KX\'s \'Thread Talks\' is a series of six intimate and exclusive \'in conversation\' events in which comedian and host, Alex Zane is joined by some of the biggest names in journalism, sport, culture and comedy.