The most hotly anticipated return this Christmas is big-hearted sitcom Gavin And Stacey.
But it almost didn’t happen according to star Ruth Jones, who co-wrote the show with James Corden.
The writing process was tricky, seeing as Buckinghamshire-born Corden, 41, now lives in LA, where he hosts The Late Late Show, a talk-show on CBS.
The duo, who met as stars of ITV comedy drama Fat Friends, which first aired in 2000, found some time in September 2018 to map out the story.
Then it took another week, in February this year, to finalise the script.
“And it was a bit of a journey, I have to say,” says Ruth.
“There were some times during that week where we thought, ‘Oh, this isn’t happening, let’s not do it’. We can argue, don’t get me wrong – we have a very brother/sisterly relationship.
“But our friendship, at the heart of it, is so strong,” she continues, ever-so-slightly choking up.
“I’m so proud of our friendship, and I’m proud of the journey we’ve been on together.”
Much of the problem was where to take the two beloved characters.
“Those characters are the heart of this show; the only reason that all these characters have ever come together is because Gavin and Stacey met and they got married, and so all these people got together, and they’re now in each others’ lives,” says Ruth.
“And we felt, early on in the writing of this, ‘What is it about Gavin and Stacey? We haven’t got something solid and chunky for them’.
But, she promised, they are “really, really chuffed” with the storyline they decided to go with.
The original series followed the long-distance relationship of Gavin, who lived at home in Billericay, Essex with mum Pam (Alison Steadman), dad Mick (Larry Lamb), and Stacey (Joanna Page), from Barry Island, Wales, where she lived with her mum Gwen (Melanie Griffiths), with her uncle Bryn (Rob Brydon), across the road.
Not forgetting Gavin and Stacey’s respective best friends Nessa (Jones) and Smithy (Corden) who, after a one-night stand in series one, became parents to baby Neil in series two.
The final episode saw Gavin and Stacey, who married at the end of series one, find out they were having a baby.
“More than anything, we wanted to be sure that, if we did bring it back, it was good,” adds Ruth.
“We didn’t want to risk people going, ‘Oh, it’s not like it was’.”
Gavin And Stacey, Christmas Day, BBC1, 8.30pm
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