It was just one brief scene in Gavin & Stacey but it's a moment that fans of Steve Meo have never forgotten. Each time the Swansea Valley star appears on telly in a new role it's not long before someone pipes up with 'And before you ask, no I don't'. The now famous play on words (or not...) was delivered with cheeky knowing by the actor as Owain Hughes in the third series of the BBC show.
And for all those fans of the hit BBC series who still ruminate over it, the actor claims that the throwaway line from Owain isn't as deep as people might think. "It is a red herring designed to infuriate and spark debate," revealed Steve. "Funnily enough when I first went in for the audition that's the first thing I asked Ruth (Jones, co-creator) 'there isn't a joke is there because I'm going mad.'
"About three or four weeks after it started airing I had a phonecall off my mother. She was in Tesco Pontardawe and she said 'right, you've got to tell me. The manager's just said over the tannoy now that if anyone can tell him what the joke means they'll get a free bottle of wine.' I said 'sorry mam, I'm contractually obliged not to tell you.'" he said laughing his head off.
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But, to filter down Steve's career to that one tiny moment is to do the Coelbren boy a disservice. Now 45, it's been 14 years since he filmed that now famous scene opposite Mathew Horne's Gavin. Both before and since then he's been one of Wales' hardest working actors who even managed to share screen time with the irreplaceable Harvey Keitel in a insurance advert in the mid-2010s.
Currently starring in Coronation Street as dubious, wideboy businessman - with an unusual pre-watershed LSD and cocaine habit - Rufus Donahue, Steve's trip into acting came from the Welsh teacher at his school combined with the supportive encouragement of his dad, Jamie, setting him on a course from a valleys rugby boy from a family of tradesmen to a star of iconic Welsh shows like High Hopes, Belonging, The Pembrokeshire Murders, Baker Boys and UK tours of Les Mis.
"I think coming from where I come from, a very rural little village in the top end of the Swansea Valley, I never expected to be lucky enough to earn a living from acting for 24 years now," Steve said. "That was my ambition starting out, I didn't have an ambition to get to Hollywood, or be a huge film star and have my name up in lights,. I've always taken a practical view of acting and seen it as a very enjoyable way to earn a living and now I have a family my ambition is to provide through acting for my family."
Acting was never a part of Steve's life growing up, not in an educational way, anyway, but he thinks there must be something in the water up the top end of that valley with three of his fellow Maesydderwen schoolmates going on to have success - Eve Myles, director and actor Craig Russell and In My Skin star, Richard Corgan. But it was in his fifth year at the school a teacher called Hazel Williams took over the Welsh department and Steve and Craig, found themselves shipped off to the National Youth Theatre of Wales following their teacher's encouragement to audition.
"We did it for a laugh, two rugby boys from the upper Swansea Valley and it just turned our heads so much. We had such a great time and I made friends with people, a lot of whom are still my closest friends now. Coming from a family of tradesmen and a working class background, I wasn't really discouraged but I wasn't pushed into doing the drama either. I was luckily quite good at school and wanted to be a solicitor. But one day my father walked into the room and just told me to follow my heart and do what I wanted to do in life."
Sadly, Steve's dad passed away in 2002 and only saw a few things his son went on to star in. One of those was Belonging, a valleys-set drama which ran for 10 years and also starred Eve Myles, Charles Dale, Di Botcher and many other Welsh acting talents we still love today. Steve's proud of his work on the show that broached tough topics like self-harm, underage sex.
Another early, but legendary, role Steve's dad got to see was as the inimitable Hoffman in the utterly Welsh comedy, High Hopes opposite Robert Blythe and Margaret John. Steve starred in all of the episodes made between 2002 and 2015 and has fond memories of the show, as do fans of the Boyd Clack sitcom.
"We had such a laugh," said the dad-of-two who says that there's just something about Welsh society that "breeds funny". "We really formed a family bond in it. We worked together I think for the best part of 10 years. I remember Bob Blythe saying it felt like his time in the sun and that's a good way of putting it because we got paid to make each other laugh and mess around."
High Hopes filmed in Rhondda and Merthyr Tydfil and Steve has fond memories of both making the show in those communities as well as representing them and their particular brand of humour.
"Obviously it was an exaggerated representation of those areas and that's where the humour comes from . But I think we did feel proud that we were making a comedy about those sorts of areas, which you don't see a lot of on TV. And if you do, it's about drug abuse or a depressing take. But the thing I loved most about filming in those locations is we'd be in the same place a lot of the time.
"And we'd have the young kids who would come around and see us on the first and second series, they were 10 or 11, and have a chat and a laugh. But by the time we finished there, they're all grown up, they were driving past us beeping their horn."
Seeing Welsh characters on screen has definitely become more nuanced since Steve's career has developed. He explained: "I think being a regional accented actor you tend to get the same script sent to you again, and again, you know, you will have the southern English lead character, and then you will have the regional best friend who misinterprets what the lead character says, says something stupid, gets corrected... laughter track. I got a bit bored of being sent the same script over and over again. I consciously chose more dramatic roles."
Seeing better characters nowadays means actors like Steve get into the more meaty roles, like his turn as detective Lynne Harries in The Pembrokeshire Murders opposite Luke Evans. Steve added: "I think we've moved away from being so London-centric now. And people realise that there are very important stories to be told that are elsewhere and that people are more transient. Now you can have a character that comes from anywhere really if something's set in Birmingham, doesn't mean everybody's going to be a Brummie, just as if it's set in Cardiff doesn't mean everybody's going to be Welsh and that's alright. That's a good thing, I think."
So let's get into it then, I say to Steve, the serious business. Who's the comedy character you get recognised for most? Hoffman or Owain Hughes. One is a valleys lege, loved by thousands with fond memories of the Boyd Clack characters, the other told a 'joke' people have been trying to figure out for a decade in a show beloved by millions with a passion.
Steve said: "Just because I live in the south east of England now (with wife Eleanor Howell and sons Sonny and Rowan) and High Hopes wasn't shown on network and just Gavin & Stacey is on ALLLLLLLLL the time, you can always catch it somewhere. So probably Owain in general, but in Wales it's Hoffman."
As for his fans, Steve added: "I hope I will never get annoyed by people coming up and asking about the work. The majority of time people walk up to you and tell you how much they like stuff and that's never going to be the problem. My wife actually bought me a cards with Owain Hughes on, I didn't know it existed."
You can see Steve in Coronation Street on ITV this spring.
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