I'm A Celebrity star on why Glasgow's a 'beautiful place'

“The dancing continued off-stage too, in the bars and restaurants and clubs after the show,” she says, with a laugh. “I remember Glasgow as a beautiful place, full of fun and laughter."

Giovanna is starring in Wish You Were Dead, the stage adaptation of Peter James’s novel featuring DSI Roy Grace, which comes to the Theatre Royal on March 28. (The gripping television series, Grace, also based on James’s stories, was a huge hit when it launched in 2021, with almost nine million viewers tuning in. The second series is on now.)

She plays Grace’s wife Cleo, in a story about the couple’s attempt to enjoy a holiday away from murder and the mortuary, which is spectacularly thwarted when the past comes back to haunt them. Grace is played by Casualty star George Rainsford, and the cast also includes Holby City’s Clive Mantle.

Given it is a thriller with its fair share of shocks, and that Giovanna has just finished appearing in the spooky 2:22 A Ghost Story in London’s West End, it is a surprise to learn she does not enjoy being scared.

Giovanna Fletcher (Image: Childs Farm/PA)

“I’m awful – I can’t watch or read anything scary,” she groans. “It’s ridiculous, I’m such a scaredy-cat. I like whodunnits, when you try and work out what’s going on, but I can’t stand anyone jumping out at me.”

She adds: “I love the theatre though. Writing and podcasting is all stuff you do that people see later on, whereas on stage, you get that immediate response from the audience. Someone laughs, or gasps, and it gives life to what you’re doing.”

Giovanna and her husband Tom (Image: PA)

Giovanna is married to Tom Fletcher, of McFly, who recently appeared on Strictly Come Dancing. Unlike his wife, his reality TV show experience did not involve eating a raw fish eye, a sheep's testicle and a bull's penis.

Giovanna laughs out loud. “I still don’t see it as me getting the short straw – Strictly would have been the bigger challenge for me,” she admits. “Tom actually had to learn how to do something. I just had to turn up and experience it.”

Giovanna was crowned Queen of the Jungle in 2020 (Image: ITV)

She adds: “I think, maybe because I’m a mum, I managed to separate my rational brain from my irrational brain and you just do what needs done. It was just mind over matter.”

The couple have three boys – Buzz, Buddy and Max – and Giovanna admits it has been hard leaving them to tour with Wish You Were Dead.

“It is difficult, because you’re not there at bedtimes, and I miss them,” she says. “But Tom has it all under control. I phone all the time and we send videos – they are in a Harry Potter phase at the moment, so they’re constantly doing spells at me down the phone, which is hilarious.”

After the tour finishes, Giovanna will focus on her next book – she has written eight novels, two novellas and two non-fiction books – and her successful podcast, Happy Mum, Happy Baby which famously featured the Princess of Wales in 2020.

Giovanna with co-star George Rainsford (Image: Craig Sugden)

“And I’d love to do more theatre,” she says. “It’s great to be able to get up on stage and thrill people, make them laugh – just give them two hours of escapism.”

Peter James’ Wish You Were Dead is at the Theatre Royal from March 28 until April 1.