Jones hints at more episodes
THERE will be cheering from Barry to Billericay because the Gavin & Stacey Christmas special may herald more episodes.
Creator and star Ruth Jones dropped the hint while chatting about the forthcoming Christmas Day episode.
The original three series about the heart-warming life and loves of Essex boy Gavin and Welsh girl Stacey attracted up to 10 million viewers.
The BBC comedy ran from 2007 to 2010 and since then Jones, who co-wrote the series with co-star James Corden, has said they would not be doing any more.
But now she has opened the door to a possible return of Gavin and Stacey and their best mates, Nessa and Smithy, played by her and Corden.
She said: “I think it would be churlish of me to say there won’t be any more.
“The honest truth is there are no plans,
LUSH Nessa shows softer side but I don’t think I could ever say never.” She revealed that Joanna Page, who is Stacey, was thrilled to learn the show was finally returning to the small screen. Jones, 53, said: “They were lovely phone calls. Everybody was over the moon. Jo Page was almost hysterical.” Promising
the Christmas episode would be “cheery, warm-hearted, Brexit-free and very, very Christmassy”, Jones admitted that working with Corden, 41, again had been strange at first.
She told Red magazine: “Although we’d seen each other over the years, we hadn’t spent any great length of time together.
“But what’s nice about the way we write is that we just act out the characters
Mick & Pam crack up ourselves, so it’s just like playing, really. We make each other laugh a lot.”
The special also sees Mathew Horne back as Gavin, Rob Brydon as Bryn, Larry Lamb as Mick, Alison Steadman as Pam and Melanie Walters as Gwen.
This year the families from Essex and Wales are getting together to celebrate Christmas in Barry, with a stressed-out Bryn in charge of the cooking.
A trailer shows everyone looking full of Christmas cheer apart from Nessa.
Jones loved playing the character and laughed: “I get to be really rude and bossy. Being back in Barry again, wearing that leather skirt and being down the races or in Gwen’s house was just bliss.
“What’s lovely about the Christmas special is see a softer side to Nessa in her love for Neil, her son. She’s not a conventional mum, but she’s very loving.”
Rumours of a rift between Corden and Horne emerged after the series, with Corden explaining in 2011 he regretted they had rushed into other projects.
■ The January issue of Red is on sale from December 4.