Gavin and Stacey star James Corden reveals true feelings for Ruth Jones

We couldn't be more excited to sit and watch Gavin and Stacey: The Finale on Christmas Day, but the show's conclusion marks the end of an emotional 17-year journey for it's co-creators, James Corden and Ruth Jones.

The duo, who also star as the will-they-won't-they couple Smithy and Nessa, began writing the show together in the early Noughties, and have both gone on to have incredible careers since the sitcom's tremendous success, with James cracking Hollywood with several blockbuster movie roles and a hosting gig on The Late Late Show, while Ruth has become a bestselling novelist, her books including Never Greener and Us Three.

James has also become a husband and father in that time, sharing three children, Max, 11, Carey, 10- and six-year-old Charlotte with his wife, Julia Carey, and relocated to Los Angeles before settling back down in the UK in 2023.

While saying goodbye to the show, the pair reflected on the sitcom's incredible success and the friendships made along the way…

Why do you think the show is so loved?

James: I think fundamentally the show is about love and about people who like each other. It's about family and friendship. There’s just so much warmth and love within them as a group. None of that is faked, that’s all there in our relationships as a cast really. I think there’s something very pure about watching people who get on and love each other without conflict. I hope people feel that on Christmas day.

Ruth: I think it’s because it’s so relatable - people recognise themselves or people they love in it. And it’s not a cynical show, everyone in it loves each other.

What was your favourite moment from the show?

Ruth: There are so many. I love Nessa. I wish I could be more like her in real life. Off the top of my head, I’d say the scene in the caravan in series three when Dave is jealous about her and Smithy sleeping together and she reassures him that it wasn’t the same as when she and Dave are together, ‘I didn’t have my bag, my tools, my cloak!’

Did you ever think you'd still be writing it all these years later?

James: I don’t think anybody when you start writing a TV show thinks you’ll be still writing these characters 20 years on, it’s nuts really.

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But I think when we finished the last special in the manner that we did, we knew that we’d very much left a door open. Ruth and I at various points had thought maybe we should do one, maybe we shouldn’t. But it’s such a privilege to be able to end a show on your own terms, like it’s not lost on us how fortunate we are to be able to do that.

Ruth: I guess you can’t really think like that. But I feel terribly proud of how long it’s lasted and how people who weren’t even born when it came out are now fans. That means such a lot.

What does Gavin and Stacey mean to you?

Ruth: It’s been a very special time in my life and it’s spanned seventeen years. The lovely friends I’ve made from it and the happy times we’ve had filming are such a joy. I feel very lucky to have been part of it.

James: Gavin & Stacey is just a huge part of my life, it changed my life in every way. The thing it means to me most, is my friendship with Ruth. To have an idea with a friend in a hotel in Leeds 20 years ago and then be sat here today with what it’s become… if you think about it too much you could really just start crying all the time. I love her so much and I’m so proud of what we’ve done.