Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Gav & Stacey affair plot...
Writers mulled over love-rat plot for TV hit’s festive return
THERE was almost a different kind of funny business going on in the Gavin & Stacey Christmas special.
Creators Ruth Jones, 53, and James Corden, 41 have revealed they toyed with the idea of having Mat Horne’s character Gavin Shipman cheat on wife Stacey West.
But Ruth said: “It didn’t feel right with the show.”
And Mat, 41, added: “They decided it was too much and it would have been really hard to play that. I don’t think you’d believe Gav would stray.”
We last saw Gavin and Stacey – played by Joanna Page, 42 – when series three ended in 2010 and bookies reckon the BBC1 special will top the festive TV ratings.
Jones said: “We obviously wanted to take it 10 years on but didn’t want to sensationalise it and have something major happen. We didn’t want to make it like a big explosion, we wanted to keep it as real as possible, true to the characters as possible. But also you have to have a narrative drive in there as well.
“We did take a while to decide. We were talking one day, ‘Is Gavin going to have an affair?’ and those ideas didn’t feel right with the show”
And the show could follow up on topping the TV ratings by claiming No1 in the pop charts next Christmas.
In the special, Nessa and Bryn, played by Jones and Rob Brydon, sing Fairytale of New York – a 1987 hit for The Pogues and Kirsty Maccoll – at a pub in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan.
Asked if it could be a single, Brydon laughed: “It would have to be next year.” Jones added: “It’s been a tradition for Bryn and Nessa to sing together so that was one of the ingredients we wanted to include.”
I don’t think you’d believe Gav would stray
MAT HORNE ON IDEA OF GAV HAVING AN AFFAIR