Gavin and Stacey is set to return this Christmas (Image: BABY COW)
While filming was all smiles on screen, there were emotional tears behind the scenes.
The heartwarming show, which documented the lives of two fictional families in Barry Island and Billericay, quickly captured the hearts of the nation.
Fans were left them wanting more after Nessa got down on one knee and proposed in the Christmas episode back in 2019.
Five years later, writers James Corden and Ruth Jones, who portrayed Smithy and Nessa, revealed the show was coming back for the final ever episode of the show.
Back in May, the chat show host, 45, took to social media to share a picture of the duo holding up a script for the new series. He captioned it: “Some news… It’s official!!!
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James Corden and Ruth Jones announced their return back in May (Image: PA)
“We have finished writing the last ever episode of Gavin and Stacey. See you on Christmas Day, One. Love Ruth and James.”
This summer, the cast reunited for one final time in the Welsh countryside, where they filmed the final instalment. The star-studded cast even gave eagle-eyed fans a ahead of the .
Here, we take a look at the behind-the-scenes secrets of the 2007 sitcom – from a co-star romace to a surprising location revelation.
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James Corden previously dates Sheridan Smith (Image: Getty)
Rocky co-star romance
Sheridan Smith initially joined the cast as Rudi, the sister of James’ character Smithy, in 2007. Away from the cameras, she and James embarked on a tumultuous two-year relationship.
They broke up in 2008, and James seemed to shift his attention to singer Lily Allen, with whom he reportedly went on several dates.
“I made it my aim to make Lily mine. I guess we were friends but, for my part, I definitely wanted more than that,” he confessed at the time. However, by the following February, James had reunited with Sheridan, proclaiming her as the “love of my life”.
He gushed to reports : “Yes, Sheridan and I are back together and it’s going brilliantly. I couldn’t be happier. I want to marry my girl.”
However, Sheridan seemed to have reservations, previously admitting that the thought of marriage was not on her radar. Reflecting on her past, she once said: “I was a lot wilder back then. I wasn’t someone who was in a frame of mind of settling down.”
He is now married to charity worker Julia Carey (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
After their ultimate parting in 2009, James found himself devastated, leading to an intense period of partying, as he feared his life was on the verge of chaos.
James opened up to The Times, confessing: “I was heartbroken and lost,” revealing the depth of his anguish post-split with Sheridan.
“I’d had a relationship with Sheridan which was heartbreaking, when you think something might work and it doesn’t. And I felt a bit lost.
“And feeling lost, and feeling heartbroken, and feeling single for the first time in your adult life, at the very moment when you become a little bit famous, is quite a potent mix.”
Since then, James has found love with his wife Julia Carey and welcomed welcomed three children together, Max Carey and Charlotte. Meanwhile, Sheridan Smith also went on to welcome a son named Billy who she shares with ex-boyfriend Billy.
James and Ruth initially struggled writing the final script (Image: BBC )
Tearful scripts
The creative duo, James and Ruth, faced setbacks while scripting the 2019 Christmas special, with sessions over FaceTime ending in a script they deemed “absolutely awful”.
It led to a somber dinner where they both agreed to scrap the project. Ruth opened up to the Daily Mail about the initial struggles they faced, admitting: “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.” Yet, in what seemed like a stroke of fate, that mundane chat sparked an epiphany, leading to an emotional moment for James.
The pair burst into tears after inspiration struck (Image: Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty Images)
She went on: “Within two or three hours, we’d worked up that exact pedestrian conversation into this perfect Gavin and Stacey scene.
“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.”
Alison Steadman and Larry Lamb spilled a jaw-dropping show secret (Image: BBC)
Filming admission
In a surprising filming confession, the beloved actors behind Pam and Mick recently dropped a bombshell that left fans stunned. The cherished sitcom charmingly depicted the romance between Gavin and Stacey as they juggled life between Essex and Wales.
Gavin resided in his parents’ spacious detached abode, while Stacey’s home was a terraced house in Barry Island, with her widowed mother Gwen and Uncle Bryn living just across the street. But Larry Lamb and Alison Steadman revealed earlier this year that the cast never actually filmed in Essex.
Speaking to the Radio Times, Larry Lamb confessed: “Gavin and Stacey was all filmed in Wales, nobody offered us the opportunity to go to Essex.
He added: “[Producers] said, ‘Billericay’s where you’re from’, so we just got on with it, we just do what we’re told.”