17 hours Ago By Evening Standard
has thanked fans for tuning into the finale of his hit sitcom Gavin And Stacey after it secured the highest Christmas Day ratings since 2008. The co-creator of the BBC comedy, with , wrote an emotional farewell to the show, which drew an average audience of 12.3 million on Christmas Day, according to overnight figures.
On Thursday, Corden, who watched the Gavin and Stacey finale on Christmas Day with Ruth, shared behind-the-scenes photos from the set, including one of himself and Mathew Horne, who plays Gavin, holding hands in bed together. Meanwhile, Alison Steadman (Pam) and Rob Brydon (Uncle Bryn) struck playful poses while filming the hilarious drunken party scene. He also captured Samuel Anderson, who plays Smithy's friend Fingers, serenading the cast with a trumpet during a filming break.
He captioned the post: “Here’s some behind the scenes photos from the special. Thank you so much to everyone who watched last night. It means more than you’ll know.
All my love, James xx.” Underneath the post, music producer Darren Styles wrote: “The perfect ending! BRB (Be right back) while I rewatch every episode for the millionth time.” Girls Aloud star Kimberley Walsh wrote: “Aw loved it so much.
” Corden also shared photos of him as Neil “Smithy” Smith, and Jones as Vanessa “Nessa” Jenkins along with the cast filming Gavin And Stacey: The Finale in Wales. This included Sonia (Laura Aikman) – Smithy’s girlfriend from the 2019 Christmas Day episode, which ended with a cliff-hanger when Nessa proposed to him – returning as a bride to be. The photo, shared by Corden, sees Nessa in the background looking in low spirits while Sonia is wearing a wedding dress and the cast is holding up masks of her face.
In the final episode, many guests stood up when asked if anyone objects to the marriage, and Smithy realised he has to confess his true love to Nessa, who the finale revealed had her proposal interrupted in 2019 before Smithy could give his answer and the pair never discussed it again. After racing to meet Nessa before she goes to work on the ships again, Smithy proposed to her and the final scene featured a heartwarming montage of a low-key wedding, with her sporting a black dress and the couple finally getting their happily ever after. The series – written by Corden and Jones – originally aired between 2007 and 2010, and told the long-distance love story of title characters Stacey Shipman ( ) and Gavin ( ).
It returned in 2019 for a special episode that at the time held the record for the highest overnight Christmas ratings since 2008. The 2019 Christmas episode had an overnight audience of 11.6 million.
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