BBC One’s nostalgia trip, Gavin and Stacey: A Fond Farewell, took viewers behind the scenes of the much-loved comedy series during its 20-year journey, with insights into the revamped Christmas special.
After a long wait, Gavin and Stacey graced our screens once again on Christmas Day, leaving fans eagerly anticipating the potential romance between Smithy (played by James Corden) and Nessa (played by Ruth Jones).
Since its inception in 2007, the show has captured the lives of two families: one from Billericay in Essex and another from Barry Island in Wales.
The lead roles of Gavin and Stacey are played by Mathew Horne and Joanna Page, who join an illustrious ensemble cast that includes British film stars Alison Steadman, Rob Brydon and Larry Lamb.
In the documentary, creators James Corden and Ruth Jones candidly shared their initial hesitation about the Christmas special they had written, admitting that they were on the verge of scrapping the entire project due to their dissatisfaction with the story, reports the mirror.
Revealing the creative struggle, James said: “The 2019 special – I don’t know if people know this – but we gave up at some point. We might have written halfway through and we said, ‘This is terrible, it’s rubbish, it’s terrible. ”
He went on to describe the pivotal moment: “It’s extraordinary how close we were… I remember saying to each other, ‘Thank God we got the BBC.’”
Elaborating on the show, he shared, “So we were having dinner in my kitchen and I said, ‘Look, I think we probably owe it to the show to go back and talk about why it’s bad.’”
Corden concluded the anecdote with the ending that could have been, saying, “It took us about two hours to say goodbye to it and say, ‘We can never do it again. It’s not very good.’”
Ruth chimed in: “But then we realized – which is true of every Gavin and Stacey episode – that the reason all these people are together is because of Gavin and Stacey.
“So we announced that the reason it didn’t work is because there was nothing substantial for them.”
James contributed: “Then at 11pm that night we came up with the scene where Stacey was holding the matches. And it changed everything.”
The cast chuckled as he added, “Then we called the BBC the next day it went from ‘dead’ to ‘Oh no, it’s fine!’”
Fans took to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, to share their reactions to the emotional farewell documentary.
One wrote: “It’s a credit to #GavinAndStacey to get a fascinating behind-the-scenes documentary on prime time @BBCOne on New Year’s Day.”
Another wrote: “This #Gavinandstacey doc is fantastic. Love you @JKCorden x and Ruth obvs, don’t think she’s here.”
A third commented: “This Gavin and Stacey documentary on BBC1 atm is just what fans needed. It’s just amazing to see all this behind the scenes footage!”
Another commented: “I was a little skeptical about whether watching Gavin and Stacey behind the scenes would be the best NYD TV but it’s so cute, I love seeing creatives work their magic like this doing.”
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