It was nearly a very different ending for the beloved BBC comedy, Gavin & Stacey creators and stars James Corden and Ruth Jones- have revealed
One of the nations most beloved sitcoms, Gavin & Stacey, came to an end last year.
The hit English-Welsh comedy introduced us to hilarious and sweet characters, including family man and main character Gavin Shipman. But, creators James Corden and Ruth Jones have now revealed that Gavin almost had a very different ending.
Throughout the series, audiences watched as Gavin, played by Michael Horne, met the love of his life, Stacey West, played by Joanna Page. He married her only a few months into their relationship. As their marriage progressed, they faced highs and lows, but by the end, were happily married with three children.
However, lovable Gavin almost became the series’ villain as James and Ruth, who also played Smithy and Nessa, revealed that they planned for Gavin to have an affair.
“We had a sort of weird idea for the 2019 special, didn’t we?” James said when reflecting with Ruth on the Christmas special they created several years after the end of their show.
Ruth then replied, “Oh, about Gavin having an affair?” shocking the audience to their candid chat, which is part of an evening with the pair called When Gavin Met Stacey, put on to celebrate the release of a book by the same name.
James continued: “Yeah, or that he wasn’t having an affair but there was someone at his work who he liked.” Ruth explained that they chose not to do that as it felt like it didn’t fit with the show.
Gavin & Stacey launched on the BBC in 2007. Over three seasons and two Christmas specials, it became one of the nation’s most loved TV shows, with last year’s finale watched by 19.3 million people. The last episode was the most watched scripted show in over twenty years.
Ruth also confessed that the final episode was almost a film. “With the second special – the finale – we did consider making that as a movie because we wanted to do something different from what we’d done before.
“But then when we read it, we went, ‘No, it really belongs in people’s living rooms on Christmas night, when everyone’s eaten too much turkey and chocolate orange and they’re sat with friends and family.'”
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James agreed: ““Lots of people kept saying, ‘You could make so much money. The Inbetweeners movie did this much money . . . ’ But we couldn’t shake that these people belong in the corner of your living room.”
They also revealed that there was very nearly another special years earlier. In honour of Comic Relief, the pair nearly penned a skit where the whole cast would be taking part in 2009.
Recalling the idea for the sketch, James said: “We had this idea that the whole cast were going to go to watch Comic Relief in the studio. Like, Mick had got some tickets because someone at work had spent the week in a bathful of beans and he can’t go, and do the Barry lot want to go?
“They got a minibus and it was going to be all this stuff like Gwen ended up on a cookery programme showing Jamie Oliver how to make an omelette. Gavin and Stacey got lost and ended up in the Blue Peter garden and decided to have sex.
“Bryn ended up on one of the phone-in Loose Women-type shows giving people advice on what to do. And Nessa keeps bumping into people that she’s slept with. She’d turn a corner and go, ‘Oh God, not another one,’ and it would be Dermot O’Leary going, ‘You never called me back!’”
But those plans were ruined by people’s schedules. James explained that everyone was busy doing different things, so ultimately the only part that made it in was a sketch where Smithy, Gavin’s best friend, was involved. In the clip, Smithy berates the England football team for their poor performance in 2009.
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