Baby love
Gavin and Stacey’s Neil the Baby has been played by six different tots
GAVIN And Stacey fans were over the moon to see Neil the Baby return for the 2019 Christmas special and to learn that Oscar Hartland, who played the child in the original series, was returning.
However, Oscar wasn't the only tot to play the role, as five other children were also hired by James Corden and Ruth Jones for the BBC comedy.
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Lewis Marchant, Scarlett Humphreys, Cari Kiernan and Ewan Kennedy all played the part, although only Oscar returned, beating off competition from other actors.
Rocco Romanello also starred as the baby, although his parents have never spoken about the role.
Scarlett Humphreys
The first time viewers met Neil the Baby, the youngster was actually newborn baby girl named Scarlett Humphreys.
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Her mother Samantha had just given birth in South Wales and revealed the midwife told her that the crew was looking for a baby, so Scarlett made her small screen debut at just 10 days old.
She told : "My midwife knew I had just had a baby and I’ve done bits of TV work before so she knew I’d be interested and told the crew she had just the person."
Lewis Marchant
Lewis, now 11, appeared in the show during a scene between Smithy and Dave from Dave's Coaches, as they had an argument about whether baby Neil would be a Cardiff City or West Ham United supporter.
Lewis' mother Emily told The Mirror that she found out about the opportunity through an agent and was "a bit hesitant at first but Gavin & Stacey was big so I just went for it".
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"We spent a lot of time with Steffan Rhodri, who plays Dave Coaches and he was lovely with Lewis," she added.
"James Cordon was quite broody at the time so he was quite cwtchy as well."
Cari Kiernan
Cari, also now 11, appeared in the 2008 Christmas special.
Her mum, Bethan Chamberlain from Swansea, revealed her baby girl is in the scene where baby Neil is in the bouncer and Smithy is looking over her making her laugh.
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"It was my husband who was standing behind her and making her laugh," Bethan told adding that Cari watches back the episodes "all the time".
Ewan Kennedy
Ewan appeared in the third season of the comedy, and his mum Petra admitted that she spent her maternity leave in summer 2009 on the set.
Petra said: "At the time I was off on maternity leave and my friend had her children in a stage school and she said they were looking for babies.
"I heard [Ewan] had been picked and then they said it was for the new Gavin & Stacey series so I said 'tidy'."
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She added that what made the set so "special" was how nice the cast all were.
Oscar Hartland
Oscar auditioned for the role of grown up Neil the Baby and won it despite facing competition from other actors who had more experience.
He told Good Morning Britain: "I didn't really get my hopes up as there were other people who did acting. I was in a couple of newspapers and they noticed me.
"I did my audition in Cardiff. A few weeks later I found out I got the job. It was really cool."
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He later spilled the beans that after the success of the one-off episode, the series may be back for more episodes.
“I did ask James in the process of filming. He said it’s just what the people want," said Oscar.
“Me, I would love it to happen. It really depends what other people think about it and whether they like it or not," he added.
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