Gavin & Stacey star says writing finale was 'pressured' and 'hard'
Gavin & Stacey star James Corden has revealed that the show's fans will know it will be the last ever episode "without question" after detailing how difficult the episode was to write. The actor and co-creator of the BBC comedy series appears alongside co-creator Ruth Jones on The Graham Norton Show on Friday evening, December 20.
The duo, who appear on the popular chat show alongside American actor Timothée Chalamet, American actor and playwright Colman Domingo, English actor Andrew Garfield and music guest Laufey, are set to discuss the upcoming Gavin & Stacey: The Finale on the chat show. The last ever episode will be aired on BBC and BBC iPlayer on Christmas Day (Wednesday, December 25), which is in less than a week. For the latest TV & Showbiz news, sign up to our newsletter.
The beloved main cast will be reprising their roles for the final time, with Ruth Jones and James Corden playing the roles of Nessa (Jones) and Smithy (Corden) in the special episode. While on The Graham Norton Show on Friday evening, the duo will be discussing how they went into writing the Christmas Special episode, as well as what the fans could expect.
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When asked if they always knew they would do the final episode, Ruth said: "Initially, when the last episode went out, I was keen to follow it up and James wasn’t, then he was keen and I wasn't. I think over the last few years we have been in different places with it. I was content to leave it on a cliffhanger, but then eventually we both landed in a place where we felt we owed it to fans of the show to finish the story."
James added: "It was quite pressured and hard to think about how to make the end satisfying to the audience and to the characters. Ruth and I got together on our own and it was only when we thought we had a story – about 70 pages into a 100-page script – that's when we called the BBC."
When asked by Irish chat show host Graham Norton if this really was the last ever episode, James replied: "It's very hard to talk about because there are so many spoilers but when people watch it on Christmas, they will see why it will be, without question, the last time you will see these characters."
The actor and comedian then went on to discuss the last day of filming and said: "It was a very, very special day. We made sure that the last line people hear in the episode was the very last line we shot, which is a very rare thing. Everyone was there at the end with lots of crying. Joanna who plays Stacey pretty much cried every day. There were lots of goodbyes. It was very emotional."
Gavin & Stacey: The Finale will air on Christmas Day at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
