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LAST HURRAH
Stars of Gavin & Stacey lift lid on writing and filming last EVER episode – and their main hope for Christmas special
TV Editor Rod McPhee chats to the stars about the nation’s love for Gavin & Stacey
IT’S the most anticipated show of the year, but Gavin & Stacey fans know that the Christmas Day special will be bittersweet.
After a five-year absence, the return of the BBC One sitcom – set in both Barry, Wales and Billericay, Essex – will be its last.
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It is really hard to comprehend how momentous the final episode will be for its lead actors, James Corden, Ruth Jones, Mathew Horne and Joanna Page.
They will be watching Gavin & Stacey: The Finale with mixed emotions – as will the rest of the star-studded cast including Sheridan Smith, Rob Brydon, Alison Steadman and Larry Lamb.
The last Christmas special in 2019 was the most-watched scripted TV show of the 2010s, with 17.1 million viewers in its first week.
Here, TV Editor Rod McPhee chats to the stars about the nation’s love for Gavin & Stacey – and looks back to its launch in 2007 when its ratings were in the thousands.
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“WHEN I think back to when we started the show, almost 20 years to the day, I couldn’t feel more like a different person.
“Being part of the show, as soon as it started to become successful, was incredibly intoxicating.
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“It was discombobulating because it seemed to go from zero to ten very very quickly, but I’ve only fond memories of that time.
“I don’t think anybody, when you start writing a TV show, thinks you will be still writing these characters 20 years on. It’s nuts really.
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“It’s such a privilege to be able to end a show on your own terms. It’s not lost on us how fortunate we are to be able to do that.
“Gavin & Stacey is a huge part of my life — it changed my life in every way. The thing it means to me most, is my friendship with Ruth.
Filming wraps on Gavin and Stacey's final ever episode as Ruth Jones delivers emotional message
“To have an idea with a friend in a hotel in Leeds 20 years ago and then be sat here today with what it’s become . . . if you think about it too much you really could just start crying. I love her so much and I’m so proud of what we have done.
“I think fundamentally the show is about love and about people who like each other.
“It’s about family and friendship.
“There’s just so much warmth and love within them as a group.
“None of that is faked, that’s all there in our relationships as a cast.
“I think there’s something very pure about watching people who get on and love each other without conflict.
“I hope people feel that on Christmas Day.”
'It's joyous and hopeful', says Mathew Horne AKA Gavin
“THERE was a big difference between the airing of the first series and the airing of the second series.
“The show was largely ignored in the Press, but you could feel the buzz and the audience grew from word of mouth (and that continues to this day).
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“It was a sense of joy and love for the show across peers within the industry and audiences across the country.
“I’m still discovering what it means to me, because it’s really significant what it means to everyone else who tells me what it means to them. If that makes sense!
“For me it’s pretty clear it has defined my career and therefore my whole life.
“But new levels of meaning reveal themselves as time passes.
“I’m not sure I can predict what it will ultimately mean to me as that’s for the future, but the broadcast of the finale on Christmas Day will, I’m sure, be a significant moment or milestone in that journey.
“I think the show is relatable and idealistic. I think there are elements — primarily the themes of love, family and friendship — that everybody aspires to.
“For those fortunate enough to have a life of love and family, it is also a mirror to their world.
“I think you’d be hard pushed to find a better televisual representation of the aforementioned themes.
“It is inclusive, joyous and full of hope for humanity.”
'We all gelled and had fun', says Joanna Page AKA Stacey
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“WHEN the Gavin & Stacey script came in, it was just like another job in that I didn’t know what it was going to be like, but it was so well-written and it really made me laugh.
“I loved working with all of these people I admired. I couldn’t believe that Alison Steadman was my mother-in-law, and it was just a joy watching her act.
“Working with the comedy genius that is Rob Brydon and him playing my uncle was amazing. And trying to act with him and not laugh, because he is so funny. We just had fun, we all gelled and had chemistry. We basically just went to Wales and had a laugh.
“It launched on BBC Three and I thought it was quite strange when people started to review it. Then, when people were quoting our lines back to us, it was really strange, because I’d never been involved in anything like that.
“Gavin & Stacey means so much to me, because it was the job that got me known as an actress. So it has done a lot for my career, which is amazing, but aside from that I made lifelong friends. I got to act in a show that is so well-loved and that I’ve enjoyed acting in.
“It’s taken me all the way through my life. I was 29 when it started and I’m 47 now and have four kids. All of the stuff that I’ve gone through, Gavin & Stacey has always been there.
“I also thought it was lovely, because it really put Wales on the map. I’ve never seen a show like it that was Welsh, with Welsh characters.
“It makes us feel warm and safe. It just captures real life and relationships so well that I think that’s why everybody loves watching it.”
'It's been such a special time', says Ruth Jones AKA Nessa
“WRITING Gavin & Stacey for the last time was a mixture of excitement, nostalgia and sadness. Sad of course because this is the last time these characters will ever be on screen, but so exciting to bring them to life again.
“And nostalgic because we’d be on set with the cast and we’d go down memory lane, remembering the early episodes.
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“In the first series we just didn’t know what the series was or how it was going to look or anything, so it was all a bit of a gamble, diving into the unknown.
“It started off as this quiet little show on BBC Three with 500,000 viewers, we had no idea how big it would grow.
“I remember a couple of people texting me after the first episode went out saying ‘Oh I like that new thing you’re in’, and it just felt great to have a little bit of positive feedback.
“I feel terribly proud of how long it has lasted and how people who weren’t even born when it came out are now fans. That means such a lot. I love Nessa. I wish I could be more like her in real life.
“One of my favourite scenes is in the caravan, in series three, when Dave is jealous about Nessa and Smithy sleeping together.
“She tries to reassure him that it wasn’t the same as when they are together, saying: ‘I didn’t have my bag, my tools, my cloak!’
“I loved the wedding fair scene in series one when she tries on all this S&M gear and says: ‘Oh love, I’ll take all this. But I don’t need another whip’.
“Lastly, I guess the proposal at the end of the 2019 special will always be a Nessa favourite. It’s one of the very few times we see Nessa vulnerable.
“It’s been a very special time in my life and it’s spanned 17 years.
“The lovely friends I’ve made from it and the happy times we’ve had filming are such a joy.
“I feel very lucky to have been part of it.
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“It’s so relatable — people recognise themselves or people they love in it.
“And it’s not a cynical show, everyone in it loves each other.”
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