Alison Steadman can't bring herself to watch 'I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!'.

Alison Steadman

Alison Steadman

The 'Gavin and Stacey' star - who was known for playing flamboyant protective mother Pam Shipman in the comedy - has never been interested in watching the jungle-based show but did tune in last year to watch her former co-star Larry Lamb take part.

She explained: "It's not one of my favourite programmes but I did watch Larry. He's the guy who you want in crisis. Larry keeps a cool head. He was the perfect choice for the show whereas I would be the person in tears saying: 'I can't climb that! I can't eat that.' "

The 70-year-old actress has admitted one of the reasons why she'd never sign up to the ITV show herself is because she loves creepy crawlies "too much" to hurt them.

Speaking to the Metro newspaper, she said: "When I was a child I used to love animals and insects and I still do. If I had not become an actress, I would have done something in research and conservation - especially raising awareness of insects. I was filming with a famous actress and her seven-year-old son told me his daddy had hit a spider with a paper and killed it, and I told him how house spiders actually do good."

Alison is so determined to get the word out there and change how young children view insects that she has penned her own book, which she's planning to release "soon."

She explained: "I decided to write a simple story book encouraging children to like spiders, which is coming out soon."