Gavin & Stacey's Ruth Jones has teased the unexpected in this year's Christmas special.
The beloved BBC comedy will return to screens on Christmas Day at 9pm on BBC One for a new festive special, five years after the 2019 Christmas episode.
In a new interview with the Big Issue, the Nessa actor and show co-creator suggested that the special might be slightly different to what people are anticipating.
Related: BBC reveals first official look at Gavin & Stacey's return
"I keep telling people this finale might not be what you are expecting," she said. "And I guarantee we will definitely not be coming back."
Co-creator and Smithy star James Corden also weighed in on the special, adding: "What people are going to see on Christmas Day is the culmination of a 20-year love story, which hopefully shows, if nothing else, that love is complicated and messy and for everyone."
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In the same interview, Jones and Corden also recalled how they came to write Gavin and Stacey and how it was originally a different concept altogether.
Related: Gavin & Stacey star shares details of "last scene" ever for BBC show
"It wasn’t Gavin & Stacey yet," reflected Corden. "It was a one-off special called It’s My Day. We wrote a backstory, just for us, so we’d know who the people were and how they all met.
"At that point, [Ruth] was going to be the bride and I was the best man called Kyle," he continued, asking Jones: "Didn’t they end up sleeping together down an alley?" She responded: "Or was it being sick?"
Jones and Corden met while working together on ITV programme Fat Friends, and the idea of It's My Day would come to them while hanging out at a Leeds hotel bar they were staying in.
"For some reason it was just us two that night," remembered Corden. "If another member of the cast had popped out for a club sandwich, we’d never have talked about it."
This month, the BBC shared a first look at the anticipated Christmas special, with Corden, Jones, Mathew Horne (Gavin) and Joanna Page (Stacey) recreating the original artwork from the very first series, 17 years ago.
A synopsis for the special has been revealed, with the Shipmans and Wests spending Christmas in Essex, Pamela playing host for the festivities.
A wedding and possible funeral have been previously teased in filming pictures, but Corden has refused to confirm, hinting back in October: "But was there a funeral? Maybe yes. Maybe no..."
Read the full interview with Ruth Jones and James Corden in this week’s Big Issue. Buy from your local vendor, or if you can’t get to their pitch, show your support by purchasing a Vendor Support Kit.
Gavin & Stacey series 1-3 are available to stream on BBC iPlayer. The Gavin & Stacey 2024 Christmas special will air on Christmas Day on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
Emily is an experienced freelance entertainment writer and editor, reporting on all things TV, film, soaps and showbiz. An NCTJ-qualified journalist, with a First Class Honours degree in Journalism from the University of Sussex, Emily is a former Deputy News Editor and Evening News Editor at Digital Spy. She has previously worked at Hello magazine, BBC South News and GoodtoKnow.
A small and big-screen obsessive – with subscriptions to every TV and film service under the sun – Emily knows her movie stars from soap stars, and is always clued up on the latest reality show dumping, just-dropped trailer or off-screen spat. She's interviewed a number of celebrities over the years, with highlights including The Masked Singer host Joel Dommett and GMB's Kate Garraway (who "loved" her trousers).
Emily counts Sharon Horgan and Julia Davis as her TV heroes, and is a loyal Wes Anderson fan. LinkedIn
