James Corden posts picture as filming begins for final Gavin And Stacey episode

Filming for the last episode of Gavin And Stacey has started, the show’s star and co-writer, James Corden, has confirmed.

Corden, who plays handyman Smithy in the series he co-wrote with Ruth Jones, posted a picture of Jones, who plays Nessa and Joanna Page, who stars as Stacey, on his Instagram page.

“Day 2. One last time on the island x,” he wrote.

In the image, the women are facing away from camera in front of O’Shea’s Fish & Chip Cafe, Barry Island.

The BBC said on Monday that filming had begun for the sitcom’s final episode, which will air on Christmas Day this year.

It shared a photo of a clapperboard, dated 2 September, which said “Gavin & Stacey The Finale” along with a caption that read: “Oh. My. Christ,” a reference to a phrase, often uttered by Alison Steadman’s character Pam.

“The final episode of Gavin & Stacey started filming today. Truth be told, we’re a little bit excited. Watch #GavinandStacey on #iPlayer this Christmas Day,” it added.

Gavin And Stacey was a hit when it aired on TV for three series between 2007 and 2010, before a 2019 one-off festive episode which ended on a cliffhanger when Jones’ character Nessa proposed to Smithy.

In the sitcom, Mathew Horne and Page play lovers Gavin and Stacey, Larry Lamb is Gavin’s father Mick, Melanie Walters portrays Stacey’s widowed mother Gwen, and Rob Brydon plays her Uncle Bryn.

She lives in Barry Island, while he is from Essex.

Former chat show host Corden, 46, announced the show’s return in an Instagram post on 3 May by sharing an image of him and Jones with a 2024 script titled Gavin And Stacey: The Finale.

In July, he confirmed in another post that the script was complete.

The actor told Chris Evans on his Virgin Radio breakfast show that he felt “very emotional by all of it” as he reflected on the show and his friendship with Jones.

“We’ve finished writing, we will never write anything that Pam says again…,” he said.

“We will never come up with an interesting thing that Bryn has done.”

The 2019 festive episode scored the highest overnight Christmas ratings in 12 years, attracting an average audience of 11.6 million viewers, making it the biggest festive special since Christmas Day 2008.

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By the new year, it had been viewed by 17.1 million people, making it the biggest scripted programme of the decade at the time.

It went on to win the impact award at the National Television Awards in 2020.