Gavin & Stacey stars are back with a ‘tidy’ new show
As it’s revealed Ruth Jones and Rob Brydon are working on a new comedy, Closer looks at what they – and their Gavin & Stacey co-stars – have been up to since the hit show
Fans of Gavin & Stacey couldn’t contain their excitement when reports revealed Ruth Jones and Rob Brydon – who played Nessa Jenkins and Uncle Bryn West in the hit sitcom – are working together on a new comedy.
“Just what we need after this year,” gushed one fan, while another added, “They could read the phone book and I would watch it!”
The Christmas special, set to air on the BBC, is thought to be called Ray And Gaynor and will echo the hilarity of Gavin & Stacey. It will follow two old friends, Ray and Gaynor, and filming is currently taking place in the Scottish Highlands.
Ruth, 54, and Rob, 56, go way back. They first met at school in Wales, where they were in musicals together, before Ruth – who co-wrote Gavin & Stacey with comedian James Corden – cast Rob as Bryn West ahead of the first episode in 2007.
Ruth, whose production company is creating the new show, credits Rob for saving her career after a pep talk he gave her in a Cardiff café convinced her not to swap acting for training as a solicitor.
Following her success with Gavin & Stacey, Ruth went on to star in period costume TV dramas including Little Dorrit and she wrote and starred in Sky One comedy Stella. Meanwhile, Rob has starred in sitcom The Trip with comedy pal Steve Coogan and took over as long-running host of panel show Would I Lie To You? in 2009, as well as being famed for a host of voiceovers.
Gavin & Stacey, which spanned three series until 2010, went on to become one of TV’s most successful comedies, winning a BAFTA and several British Comedy Awards.
The 2019 Christmas special pulled in 18.5 million viewers and ended on a cliff-hanger, with Nessa proposing to James Corden’s character Smithy. Rumours of further episodes have been shot down by Ruth as she revealed that the pandemic and James’ relocation to the US made it impossible to create new scripts.
But fans are still hoping for the much-loved show’s return, after Rob said on his podcast in April, “I think they might do one more special because they left it hanging, didn’t they, with the proposal.”
While we wait, Closer takes a look at what happened to the rest of the show’s main stars...