AHEAD of the hit comedy’s final ever episode, Ruth Jones reveals how a popular Gavin and Stacey character was only supposed to be in one episode.
Ruth who plays the formidable Nessa has also been talking about her first memory on the show prior to the much anticipated Christmas special which airs soon.
Gavin and Stacey: The Finale airs on Christmas Day[/caption]
Steffan Rhodri playing Dave coaches alongside Nessa in the hit show[/caption]
The iconic character of Uncle Bryn alongside Dave Coaches who was only meant to appear in one episode[/caption]
Recalling her first memory Ruth said: “Day one filming in London on Dave’s coach with Jo Page.
“It was so exciting that this show me and James had been working on for all this time was finally coming to life.
“Being in Leicester Square dressed as Nessa and handing Smithy a piece of pizza and both our characters taking such an instant dislike to one another,
“Who’d have thought those two characters would go on the journey they’ve so far gone on!”
The last Gavin and Stacey Christmas special in 2019 was the most-watched scripted TV show of the 2010s, with 17.1 million viewers in its first week.
And as fans get ready to bid a teary farewell to their favourite characters, Ruth reveals that one of them was only ever meant to be in one episode.
“Characters in the show have developed along the way.” she explains.
“For example, Dave Coaches was only ever meant to be in one episode for the trip to London.
“But Steffan is such a great actor and he brought the character so brilliantly to life, we ended up writing him in pretty much all the episodes!”
Steffan Rhodri who plays Dave Coaches is certainly happy about that because he recognized how great the show was in the first ever episode.
He said: “After the first episode aired a comedian I knew in Cardiff came up to me in the street and said how much he’d loved it.
“He quoted back to me Dave’s line about “fags and weed…etc” and I remember thinking that if people are already quoting catchphrases after one episode then this seems to be striking something special.”
“I had to convince my agent that it was worth doing what she considered a small part.
“I sensed it was a hit and had no doubt about doing it.”
Gavin and Stacey’s Best Moments
With the news that the show is set to make an exciting return to screens, let’s take a look at some of the comedy programme’s biggest and best moments…
- Smithy and Rudi’s American Boy rap – No one will ever forget when James Corden and Sheridan Smith rapped perfectly word for word the Kanye West and Estelle hit American Boy as they walked across the car park on the phone to Gavin.
- Pam’s Vegetarian faux pas – Despite loving a cheesburger, Pam found herself caught up in a web of unexpected lies when she claimed to be Vegetarian. She is forced to keep up the secret throughout the entire show and uses hubby Mick to help her scoff meat. She is later rumbled when Stacey catches her in the act as she scoffs ham in the kitchen. Stacey says to her: “Is that ham, Pam!?… “I’ve seen you, Pam. A scotch egg here, a bit of bacon there, putting those regular sausages into the Linda McCartney box”.
- THAT fishing trip – It remains one of the biggest mysteries in Gavin and Stacey history as to just exactly what did happen on the ill-fated fishing trip. Bryn appears to be hiding a secret as to an occurance between him and his nephew Jason which has left relations fractures. Ness’ on-off boyfriend, Dave, is the only other person to know the whole truth. Bryn did appear to allude to him and Jason lying together naked to keep warm as he said to Dave: “We’re going to have this out, once and for all, man to man, you may know what happened, David, but you don’t know why it happened! It was freezing cold, it was! And when you are that cold…”
- Islands in the Stream – No one can ever forget the classic Karaoke performance of Islands in the Stream. Nessa and Bryn performed the track in front of all their nearest and dearest. It saw the whole pub burst into some line-dancing as they enjoyed a boozy night out.
- The Xmas special proposal – In 2019, fans were left overjoyed when the show made a comeback but it ended on the ultimate cliffhanger. Nessa asked Smithy if she would marry him as she finally laid bare her feelings for him. Fans were gutted as the show then cut straight to the credits as they never found out just how Smithy answered. Will all be revealed in the brand new episode?
When asked about his favourite scene, Steffan replied: “I think the wedding from the final episode of series 3 is my favourite.
“John Prescott, Noel from Hearsay, Smithy arriving like Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate.”
“That and the fight with Pete in the first Christmas special!”
Not bad for someone who was only ever meant to appear in one episode!
Gavin & Stacey: The Finale will air at 9pm on Christmas Day on BBC One and BBCIplayer
