Gavin And Stacey co-creator James Corden has said the series finale will explore Nessa’s “chequered life”.

The BBC sitcom, which first aired back in 2007, last appeared on our TV screens on Christmas Day 2019.

The special episode ended on a cliffhanger with Nessa (Ruth Jones) proposing to Smithy (Corden).

Earlier this year Corden and Jones - who are also the show's co-creators and writers - revealed Gavin and Stacey would be returning for one final episode on Christmas Day (2024).


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James Corden reveals Gavin and Stacey finale will explore Nessa’s "chequered life"

The Gavin and Stacey finale is set to pick up five years after the proposal, with all your favourite characters set to return including Gavin (Mathew Horne), Stacey (Joanna Page), Pam (Alison Steadman), Mick (Larry Lamb), Uncle Bryn (Rob Brydon) and Gwen (Melanie Walters).

Corden, speaking on the Table Manners podcast with Jessie and Lennie Ware, said: "It’s one of the best pieces of acting, what Ruth did with that character.

“The show picks up five years after we left off… Nessa has had this unbelievable chequered life and you find out more about that in this special – some really fun bits that we wrote.”

The former The Late Late Show host added that he loved the "messy and complicated" Smithy/Nessa relationship.

Corden said: “On TV or films, you very rarely see people that look like Ruth and I fall in love.

“You just don’t. I’d be dropping off a TV to Hugh Grant in Bridget Jones and Ruth’s like working on a newsstand when someone buys a newspaper.

“What I like about the show is that it’s so messy and complicated and they just clearly have fantastic sex. I really enjoy that confidence.”

The proposal scene back in 2019 will always be special, Jones explained, because the moment Nessa told Smithy “I loves you with all my heart”, she actually meant it.

Jones said: “The reason I feel it’s so emotional is because me and James have been on this journey for a long time.

“We’ve known each other since 2000 doing Fat Friends and because Gavin And Stacey has been such a massive part of our lives and that was going to be the last episode – we filmed that scene in the middle of the night as we were filming during summertime but it was set at Christmas so it had to be dark.

“We were there, just the two of us, on that road that had meant so much to us and I just, as Ruth, was looking at my dear friend James and when I said ‘I loved you with all my heart’ I was saying it to you (James).”

Will there be a Gavin and Stacey spin-off?

Speaking about the final episode of Gavin and Stacey, Corden explained the show "can't carry on".

He added: "When you’ll see it, you’ll know.”

But he did leave the door open for a potential Gavin and Stacey spin-off.

Corden said: "We don’t know if we have another idea in us but I can honestly say that if we didn’t attempt to try and even explore the idea of writing together then I’d be so disappointed.”


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When to watch the Gavin and Stacey finale

Gavin And Stacey: The Finale will air on BBC One from 9pm on Christmas Day and will also be available on BBC iPlayer.

While the documentary Gavin And Stacey: A Fond Farewell will be shown at 7pm on New Year’s Day on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.