Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I argue with James, don’t get me wrong, but I’m so proud of our friendship... we’ve been through a lot
Hit show ‘will be back’ to resolve cliffhanger end
David Peet and is stepmother to his three children. James, 41, is a dad-ofthree with wife Julia Carey, and is worth an estimated £10million and hosts the Late Late Show in the US.
Ruth hinted that the clans from Barry Island and Essex would need to return for fans to find out if Smithy accepts her surprise offer, though no more episodes are currently planned.
She said: “The thing is, hand on heart at the moment, there is no plan, no mapping out. But I think obviously there is room for it to move on, so all I’m going to say now is who knows?”
In last night’s BBC1 special – tipped to be the ratings hit of the festive season – viewers learned that Smithy and Nessa had successfully coparented Neil for the past 12 years, with Smithy travelling to Wales from Essex at weekends to see his son.
He and Nessa often ended up in bed together but were never a couple.
Ruth explains: “Nessa and Smithy and Neil the baby are a great example of a blended family. He lives in Essex, they have conjugal meetings over the years and manage to bring up this lovely boy. We thought that is what would have happened. Smithy and Nessa’s relationship was never conventional and we didn’t want it to be that, 10 years on, they were together.
“When we left them, all we knew was that they’d shared a Chinese on that last night. We thought it was more interesting and real to life that they had this relationship that worked for whatever reason, and had Neil.
“Smithy’s living in Essex so it made sense he would have relationships, just like Nessa would have the odd scrag-end tossed away off the Island.”
In the plot, Smithy’s new girlfriend, Sonia, didn’t make it through
Christmas dinner before escaping back to her family. Ruth says Laura Aikman’s performance was superb. She adds: “We didn’t want Smithy’s girlfriend to be a monster – we wanted her to have a softness and to see he was happy with her.”
The cast jumped at the chance of a TV reunion. But Joanna Page, who plays Stacey and is a mum-of-three in real life, felt nervous, thinking: “Oh, sh*t... can I even act any more?”
Last night viewers discovered that she and Gavin, played by Mat Horne, now have three children named Harri, Megan and Caitlin as a nod to his mum Pam’s love of the Royal Family. Alison Steadman has said she is never happier than when she’s playing Pamela, and Larry Lamb, who stars as her husband Mick, feels the same.
After viewing the Christmas special he declared: “I feel so overcome. To realise it’s every bit as good as you could have ever dreamt it might be, and probably a bit better.”
It remains to be seen if viewers will ever discover what happened on the infamous fishing trip between Bryn and nephew Jason. Rob Brydon, who plays Bryn, admits: “I don’t know. They’ve never told me.”
But Ruth reveals that she knows exactly what went on. “James and I have talked about it and yes, we know what happened.”
Asked whether the budget has risen since the show first began on BBC3 in 2007, Ruth replies as Nessa: “Oh, love. I don’t get involved in budgets. And, quite frankly, I think you could have asked me something else.”
GAVIN And Stacey’s stars have hinted the BBC1 show is likely to return... at some time in the future.
Mat Horne, who plays Gavin, says that co-writers Ruth and James “can’t leave it” unresolved with Nessa’s cliffhanger proposal.
“You’ve all seen the ending,” says Mat, 41. “They can’t leave it like that. Whether the show will be back next year, whether it will be in another 10 years, I don’t know.”
While it proved difficult locking in the stars for the Christmas special due to time demands – especially Us-based James Corden – all the cast would come back for another helping.
Joanna Page says: “We’d all be happy to do it.”