City gran turns Dr Who star on to Welsh cakes

MANY grandmothers might take exception to a complete stranger popping round unannounced for tea and Welsh cakes.
But Wendy Lewis wasn’t bovvered when TV comedienne Catherine Tate dropped in at her Cardiff home.
Tate, famed for her catchphrase “Am I bovvered?” as tearaway teen Lauren in her BBC1 sketch show, is currently shooting the new series of Doctor Who in the city.
But she took time out from filming to sit and have a cuppa with Wendy and her grandson Ross Lewis at Wendy’s home in Heol Gabriel, Whitchurch.
Fifteen-year-old Ross said: “She was so funny, absolutely wicked and really down to earth. She made herself comfortable and put her feet on the sofa. She didn’t mind signing autographs or posing for photographs.”
Tate has been in Cardiff since August and is staying at the St David’s Hotel and Spa in the Bay.
But while on set in north Cardiff, producers knocked on 65-year-old Wendy’s door and asked if Tate, who plays the Time Lord’s assistant in the BBC Wales sci-fi series, could take a 45-minute break from filming in nearby Court Road because it was cold. Wendy agreed – and promptly called Ross, who rushed from lessons at Whitchurch High School with classmates Victoria Spernaes and Yasmin Akbari.
“Yasmin was so surprised she said, ‘Oh my God!’ and then Catherine repeated it straight away in the voice of Lauren,” said Ross.
“My friends couldn’t believe it, they were just shocked.”
Ross, a big fan of Tate’s comedy show, asked her what it was like appearing in front of the Queen at the 2005 Royal Variety Show at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay.
“She told me she thought she was going to be locked in the Tower that night because she didn’t know how the Queen would react,” said Ross.
Ross said: “Catherine had tea and my nan’s Welsh cakes, then she came back and asked for some more to take away.”
Ross said: “It was as if I had met her a dozen times.
“My friend Yasmin said, ‘I must have a hug!’ and Catherine laughed and said, ‘Oh yes give us one then.’”
Ross said Tate, who is due to film in the capital until March, even made a joke when the director came to talk to her about a scene.
“Catherine wasn’t looking at him but had a concentrating face on and was tucking into a Welsh cake,” said the schoolboy.
“As soon as the director left the room she turned to the three of us and said, ‘I didn’t get a word of that – did you?’”