Filming has officially commenced for the final episode of the acclaimed comedy series “Gavin & Stacey.” The BBC marked the occasion by releasing a photo of a clapperboard from the first day on set, accompanied by a caption that read: “The final episode of Gavin & Stacey started filming today. Truth be told, we’re a little bit excited.”
Co-creators Ruth Jones and James Corden announced in May that the show would return for a concluding episode, slated to air on Christmas Day. On Monday morning, Corden shared an image on social media of his character Smithy’s van, with the message: “Day 1. Here we go.”
The series, which originally aired from 2007 to 2010, followed the lives of Gavin and Stacey portrayed by Mathew Horne and Joanna Page as they navigated their relationship between Essex and South Wales. The show made a comeback in 2019 with a Christmas special that concluded on a dramatic cliffhanger, featuring Nessa (played by Jones) proposing to Smithy (played by Corden). This special achieved the highest overnight Christmas ratings in 12 years, with an average audience of 11.6 million viewers, making it the most-watched festive episode since Christmas Day 2008.
Although set in Essex, much of the filming for the series took place in and around Barry, Vale of Glamorgan. Recently, Jones was seen dining at Marco’s café on the seafront, a location featured in the show as Stacey’s workplace, and close to the arcade where Nessa worked. Additionally, Welsh actor Rob Brydon, who plays Uncle Bryn, posted a selfie with Ruth Jones on Instagram last Friday, captioned: “Something’s occurring…”
Following the completion of the final script, Corden expressed his emotional response in an interview with Chris Evans on Virgin Radio. “We will never write anything that Pam says again,” Corden remarked. “We will never come up with an interesting thing that Bryn has done. And we just looked at each other and we [Corden and Jones] were just like, ‘ah, isn’t that amazing?’ To even have the luxury of deciding to end it and to be in a position where people still care. It’s inconceivable to us – all of it. I just feel very emotional by all of it. Everything.”
