Gavin and Stacey is full of jokes and heartwarming moments, but many tears were shed during filming.
The heartwarming BBC sitcom, which follows two families in Barry Island and Billericay, won over the nation 17 years ago when it first aired on our screens. And last night, more than 12 million Brits tuned in to watch Smithy, Nessa and Uncle Bryn in the last-ever episode for the Christmas Day finale.
Writers James Corden and Ruth Jones came together once again to tie up the loose ends of the show and left viewers with mixed emotions. As everybody is talking about the shocking romances and unexpected splits, we take a look at what went down behind the scenes over the years...
Rocky co-star romance
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Getty)Sheridan Smith originally joined the cast as Rudi, the sister of James' character Smithy, in 2007. In real life, she and James entered into a turbulent two-year relationship. They split in 2008 and James made it clear his mind was on singer Lily Allen, with the pair said to have enjoyed a string of 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 said at the time. But by the following February, James was once again back with Sheridan and declared her the "love of my life".
He told the Mirror at the time: "Yes, Sheridan and I are back together and it's going brilliantly. I couldn't be happier. I want to marry my girl." Sheridan, however, appeared to have different ideas and admitted that marriage couldn't have been further from her mind.
The actress once said: "I was a lot wilder back then. I wasn't someone who was in a frame of mind of settling down." After their final split in 2009, a "heartbroken" James started partying heavily and feared his life was spiralling out of control.
"I was heartbroken and lost," he told The Times. "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."
Bitter falling out
When Mathew Horne joined the cast of the comedy series, he became joined at the hip with James, and one year confessed to spending 263 days together. But their partnership hit stumbling blocks when their comedy sketch show Horne and Corden was slated by critics, while their flop film Lesbian Vampire Killers was slammed.
Their disastrous presenting role at the Brits put a huge strain on their bromance - with both actors later claiming it was "so poor" they couldn't even watch it back. They went their separate ways amid claims of a bitter falling out and stopped speaking for a few months as Mathew admitted he "retreated" after the backlash.
Mathew declined to appear on James' episode of Life Stories, but in 2016 claimed there was no animosity, saying: "Jealousy isn't something I do - I am not a jealous person. I am thrilled and about the success he is having."
Tears writing scripts
James and Ruth put pen to paper in 2019 to draft a script for the Christmas special over FaceTime. But once it was finished, their hearts sank when they realised it was "absolutely awful". And during one last subdued dinner, they decided to pull the plug.
Ruth, who plays Nessa, told the Daily Mail: "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."
But in a miraculous turnaround, that run-of-the-mill conversation suddenly inspired them and reduced James to tears. "Within two or three hours, we'd worked up that exact pedestrian conversation into this perfect Gavin and Stacey scene," she recalled.
"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."
Filming confession
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BBC)The much-loved Pam and Mick actors let slip a location revelation that left fans stunned. The popular sitcom first hit screens back in 2007 and followed the love story of Gavin and Stacey navigating their lives in Essex and Wales. Gavin lived in his parent's large detached home, while Stacey lived with her widowed mother, Gwen, in a terraced house with Uncle Bryn across the road.
But, stars Larry Lamb and Alison Steadman revealed earlier this year that the cast never actually stepped foot in Essex. "Gavin & Stacey was all filmed in Wales, nobody offered us the opportunity to go to Essex," Larry admitted to Radio Times. "[Producers] said, 'Billericay's where you're from', so we just got on with it, we just do what we're told."
Star hidden away
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PA Media)For the final Christmas finale, one of the cast members was "hidden away" during filming in a bid to avoid a huge spoiler in the storyline. Chris Gernon, the director of Gavin & Stacey, said on Instagram that the actress Laura Aikman had to stay in a different hotel and wasn't allowed to attend various events during and after production.
Posting a photo of Laura alongside Alison Steadman, who plays Pam, Gernon wrote: "[Laura Aikman] spent the whole G&S shoot being hidden away. Staying in a different hotel, not allowed to come to wrap or screening parties so no one knew Sonia was back. Such a great reveal. And she's amazing as both actor and person."
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