Anthony and Laura
FOR Anthony and Laura Common, their love story played out before Gavin and Stacey even hit our television screens.
The pair met in June 1999 by chance on one of the early internet chat rooms called “Chatheads”, where you wouldn’t even get to see what each other looked like in the first instance.
Anthony grew up in Barry, later moving to Cardiff, while Laura lived in Billericay.
A month later, they decided to meet in Reading, enjoying a meal and a few drinks together before going to Prospect Park, where they had a long chat sharing stories of their respective lives.
They hit it off from the start, and spent time travelling across the M4 to each other’s houses in the years that followed. In 2001 Anthony, 56, decided to move to Billericay and start a new life there with Laura, having waited some time to get a workplace transfer.
Six years later they were married. The year 2007 also happened to be the year the first episode of Gavin and Stacey hit our screens.
“A friend and I were talking about stuff and one day she said ‘you and Tony remind me of this television show’,” Laura, 52, said.
“Their first meeting was similar to ours, except it was in Reading instead of London and we didn’t have mates in tow.
“In between that and moving in together properly there was a lot of up and down the M4.
“I’d go and meet his family and he would come up and meet my family, there was a lot of parallels.
“We hit it off from the word go and Tony eventually decided to live with me in Billericay. He’s fit in really well and has got the nickname Taff.
“It’s gone really quickly the last 20 years. It’s all really comfortable.”