James Corden and Ruth Jones set to rake in huge payday with Gavin and Stacey side hustle – just days before last ever ep
GAVIN And Stacey fans can enjoy the show long after the finale has wrapped after creators James Corden and Ruth Jones revealed their new side-hustle.
The duo - who have penned all the scripts for the iconic BBC series - have launched a new merchandise collection for hardcore viewers.
This means die-hard fans of Ruth's sassy Welsh character, Nessa, can don a jersey emblazoned with her "crackin'" catchphrase or a black knit showing the character's face and the words: "O O O Merry Christmas."
Meanwhile, those in James' character's Smithy's clan can choose a cream jumper with the cheeky chap's face on and the slogan: "Are you asking me to step into Christmas?"
For those after a celebration of the full Gavin and Stacey cast, theres a black Christmas knit featuring the main character names.
The items have been developed in collaboration with James, 46, and Ruth, 58, to tie in with the Christmas Day finale.
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More hilarious treats can be found with T-Shirts and long-sleeve items emblazoned with phrases such as Tidy, Back Off and I know what happened on the fishing trip.
It marks the first ever official merchandise collection inspired by the show.
FINAL FAREWELL
Gavin and Stacey is centred around the lives of two families: One in Billericay, Essex, the other in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, with Mat Horne and Joanna Page playing the title characters.
James and Ruth star as Smithy and Nessa, the pair’s best friends, who have a love/hate relationship.
Alison Steadman and Larry Lamb star as Gavin’s parents, Pam and Mick, Melanie Walters plays Stacey’s mother Gwen, and Rob Brydon plays Stacey’s uncle Bryn.
The last Gavin and Stacey Christmas special in 2019 was the most-watched scripted TV show of the 2010s, with 17.1 million viewers in its first week.
Yet fans are now preparing to bid a teary farewell to their favourite characters - with this Christmas Day's instalment being the final episode ever.
Ruth previously exclusively told The Sun: "Writing Gavin and 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.
Gavin and Stacey's Best Moments
With the news that the show is set to make an exciting return to screens, let's take a look at some of the comedy programme's biggest and best moments...
- Smithy and Rudi's American Boy rap - No one will ever forget when James Corden and Sheridan Smith rapped perfectly word for word the Kanye West and Estelle hit American Boy as they walked across the car park on the phone to Gavin.
- Pam's Vegetarian faux pas - Despite loving a cheesburger, Pam found herself caught up in a web of unexpected lies when she claimed to be Vegetarian. She is forced to keep up the secret throughout the entire show and uses hubby Mick to help her scoff meat. She is later rumbled when Stacey catches her in the act as she scoffs ham in the kitchen. Stacey says to her: “Is that ham, Pam!?… “I’ve seen you, Pam. A scotch egg here, a bit of bacon there, putting those regular sausages into the Linda McCartney box”.
- THAT fishing trip - It remains one of the biggest mysteries in Gavin and Stacey history as to just exactly what did happen on the ill-fated fishing trip. Bryn appears to be hiding a secret as to an occurance between him and his nephew Jason which has left relations fractures. Ness' on-off boyfriend, Dave, is the only other person to know the whole truth. Bryn did appear to allude to him and Jason lying together naked to keep warm as he said to Dave: “We’re going to have this out, once and for all, man to man, you may know what happened, David, but you don’t know why it happened! It was freezing cold, it was! And when you are that cold…”
- Islands in the Stream - No one can ever forget the classic Karaoke performance of Islands in the Stream. Nessa and Bryn performed the track in front of all their nearest and dearest. It saw the whole pub burst into some line-dancing as they enjoyed a boozy night out.
- The Xmas special proposal - In 2019, fans were left overjoyed when the show made a comeback but it ended on the ultimate cliffhanger. Nessa asked Smithy if she would marry him as she finally laid bare her feelings for him. Fans were gutted as the show then cut straight to the credits as they never found out just how Smithy answered. Will all be revealed in the brand new episode?
“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.
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“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."
She also told how one longstanding character was only ever meant to be in the show for one episode.