Joanna Page’s husband is the actor James Thornton, the Emmerdale star she met on the set of a Dickens drama in 1999. As the Gavin & Stacey favourite gets ready to go into the I’m a Celebrity jungle on Monday, here’s who he is, how they met, their four children and the podcast they now make together twice a week.
I’m a Celeb starts Monday 16 November, 9 pm, ITV1
Joanna Page and James Thornton
Stacey from Gavin & Stacey and John Barton from Emmerdale.
Who is Joanna Page’s husband?
Joanna Page’s husband is James Thornton, a 51-year-old actor from Bradford who is best known for playing John Barton in Emmerdale from 2009 to 2012.
He had first appeared in the ITV soap in 1995, and his other TV work includes Holby City and Sky One’s Stella, where he acted opposite Ruth Jones, his wife’s Gavin & Stacey co-star and the show’s co-writer. He also works as a voice artist, and Hello! notes he has voiced adverts for the National Lottery and Visa. His narration work includes The Motorway on Channel 5.
How did Joanna Page meet her husband?
Joanna Page and James Thornton met while filming David Copperfield, the BBC One adaptation shown over Christmas 1999, and married four years later, in December 2003.
She played Dora Spenlow and he played Ham Peggotty, according to the cast list, so on screen they were never a couple. In the Dickens story, Dora marries David, while Ham is engaged to Little Em’ly.
- They meet filming David Copperfield for BBC One.
- Joanna and James get married.
- James joins Emmerdale as John Barton, staying until 2012.
- Their first child, Eva, is born.
- Son Kit is born.
- Son Noah is born.
- Daughter Boe Willow Russell is born.
- They take their podcast, Lush!, to Disneyland Paris with all four children.
- I’m a Celebrity starts, with Joanna in the line-up.
Dates from James Thornton’s career record, Hello!, ATV Today and ITV.
Is Joanna Page still married?
Yes. Joanna Page has been married to James Thornton since December 2003, and the couple now host a podcast together twice a week.
Divorce rumours have followed a joke she made in 2020, when she said they had spent the first lockdown “arguing and threatening to divorce each other”. In 2025 she said the comment had been printed as if she meant it, when she had said it jokingly, and added that you don’t get through 25 years “without ups and downs”, Entertainment Daily reported.
She hasn’t pretended it’s always easy. In February 2026 she told MailOnline that a long marriage can be “pretty rubbish” at times, and said an argument they recorded for the podcast turned into something “like couples’ therapy”, according to Female First.
Does Joanna Page have children?
Yes, four. Joanna Page and James Thornton have two daughters and two sons: Eva, Kit, Noah and Boe.
Eva was born in 2013, Kit in 2015 and Noah in 2016, and Boe Willow Russell arrived in December 2021, according to Hello! With four children at home, Joanna has been open about what the jungle means to her.
“I can be me; I can be Jo and not just mummy all the time.”
Joanna Page, speaking to ITV about going into the jungle
She told ITV she hopes the experience will help her rediscover the person she was before she had four children.
What does James Thornton do now?
Alongside his voice work, James Thornton co-hosts Lush!, a podcast with Joanna about life in their busy household, with new episodes every Tuesday and Friday.
The podcast
Lush! with Joanna Page
The latest episode covers a nit outbreak and James’s Halloween birthday, according to its Apple Podcasts listing. In September the family took the show to Disneyland Paris, its first episode recorded on location, with all four children and Joanna’s parents along for the trip, ATV Today reported.
When does Joanna Page go into I’m a Celeb?
I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! starts on Monday 16 November at 9 pm on ITV1 and ITVX, and Joanna is one of the 11 campmates ITV confirmed on Tuesday night.
She’ll be in camp with Wayne Rooney, Chloe Burrows, Ricky Wilson and AJ Odudu among others. She told ITV she is very scared of creepy crawlies and has been practising by watching spiders on TV, though she would happily take on the challenges that involve jumping off things.
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