Stella, Sky1 - TV review: The Pollyanna of Pontyberry accompanied Beyoncé Evans to her hospital scan
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Your support makes all the difference.Ruth Jones's Stella returned to Sky1 for its fifth series to restore our faith in humankind. The wholesome comedy isn't laugh-out-loud funny, but it is warming and comfortingly down to earth.
Stella Morris has always been on the saintly side, but she became the Pollyanna of Pontyberry after accompanying Beyoncé Evans to her hospital scan. The last series ended on a cliff-hanger when the teenager announced she was pregnant by Stella's “almighty shagger” boyfriend Mike after a drunken one-night stand.
The valleys of south Wales don't often appear on national TV, and when they do they are not always portrayed in such a positive light (see MTV's The Valleys). But like Gavin & Stacey, which Jones co-wrote, Stella makes you wish you were living in the sort of caring and sharing community where people shout lines like, “You've got an illegitimate child in the belly of a Jezebel!” in the street in such a pleasing Welsh lilt.
Some of the cultural references didn't sit so well. Beyoncé is too old to be named after the singing superstar, who rose to fame with Destiny's Child in 1999. But it's possible she may call her baby “North” after Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's daughter, or, more fittingly, “South”.
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