Gavin and Stacey returning to TV as cast reunites for filming after five years

13 February 2024 , 10:48

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Joanna Page and Matthew Horne are expected to be returning for Gavin and Stacey (Image: BBC)

The day Gavin and Stacey fans have been dreaming has finally come at last - the cast are back filming again.

Five years after the show last appeared on screens, the beloved BBC sitcom will return for another Christmas special. It comes after the programme finished at Christmas in 2019 on a huge cliffhanger, leaving viewers begging for more.

It has now been reported that James Corden and Ruth Jones have been secretly working on a brand new episode, with filming set to begin this summer and most of the cast set to return. Among the stars expected to return include Joanna Page, Matthew Horne, Alison Steadman, Larry Lamb, Rob Brydon and Julia Davis. According to Deadline, the new episode is currently in pre-production, with cameras expected to roll in a few months' time.

Its return won't be a surprise to many after the 2019 Christmas special became the most-watched show in a decade after garnering more than 18million viewers. Its cliffhanger saw Nessa, played by Ruth Jones, propose to James Corden's Smithy, which led to much speculation that the series would make a comeback at some point.

Gavin and Stacey will be returning for another Christmas special (PA)

The show garnered cult status when it first aired on BBC Three in 2007 and brought Essex town Billericay and Welsh seaside town Barry into the spotlight. It went on to air for three seasons from 2007 until 2010.

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Ruth previously admitted that she and James had struggled drafting a script back in 2019 for the Christmas special, confessing their "hearts sank with a horrible feeling" after they'd finished it over FaceTime and dubbed it "absolutely awful". And during one last subdued dinner, they decided to pull the plug.

Ruth told the Daily Mail: "When we did our first read-through it just wasn't working. We just stopped everything. It was a horrible feeling... it felt absolutely awful. We both had to admit it was over. So we sat down to dinner with our partners after making the decision to stop. Obviously, the mood wasn't great, and we had this very pedestrian conversation as we sat around the table."

But in a miraculous turnaround, that run-of-the-mill conversation suddenly inspired them and reduced James to tears. "Within two or three hours, we'd worked up that exact pedestrian conversation into this perfect Gavin and Stacey scene," she recalled.

"Then James started crying because it was a completely unexpected breakthrough and it was just perfect. I cried too. It was very emotional because somehow we'd got it back. We knew we could make it happen. And then – bang! – we were on a roll. Everything just worked and we had that spark back."

Rose Hill