The Scottish Mail on Sunday

Our dinner party was a disaster – but it saved Gavin & Stacey

- By Katie Hind SHOWBUSINE­SS EDITOR

THE return of Gavin & Stacey to our TV screens after ten years away will be one of the must-see shows on Christmas Day.

But it nearly didn’t happen after its stars and writers, James Corden and Ruth Jones, deemed an early draft of the script so ‘awful’ that they decided to pull the plug.

In an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday’s Event magazine, the pair reveal that they had an awkwardly subdued dinner together after making the decision to abandon the comeback – but over the meal they came up with an idea to save the show. Jones, 53, who plays Nessa, says: ‘When we did our first readthroug­h it just wasn’t working. We just stopped everything.

‘It was a horrible feeling… it felt absolutely awful.

‘We both had to admit it was over. So we sat down to dinner with our partners after making the decision to stop. Obviously the mood wasn’t great, and we had this very pedestrian conversati­on as we sat around the table. But within two or three hours, we’d worked up that exact pedestrian conversati­on into this perfect Gavin & Stacey scene. Then James started crying because it was a completely unexpected breakthrou­gh and it was just perfect. I cried, too.

‘It was very emotional because somehow we’d got it back.’

Corden, 41, who plays Smithy, adds: ‘There was a moment, a very long moment, when we thought there was no way we could bring it back.’

The chat show host refused to be drawn on whether the Christmas special would be the last we will see of Gavin & Stacey, replying: ‘Let’s just see what people think.’

 ?? ?? THEY’RE BACK: Ruth Jones and James Corden in their shoot for Event. Left: Ms Jones with co-star Joanna Page
THEY’RE BACK: Ruth Jones and James Corden in their shoot for Event. Left: Ms Jones with co-star Joanna Page

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