Weeks after filming was said to have officially begun on the final episode, also the 2024 Christmas special of the cherished British sitcom Gavin & Stacey, Digital Spy now confirms that production has ended in Barry, the small coastal Welsh town where the series is set. The Gavin & Stacey special episode, set to air this Christmas, will see the return of James Corden as Smithy alongside most of the show’s major cast, who came out to greet fans this week given the end of filming.
The other returning stars include co-creator Ruth Jones as Nessa, Joanna Page as Stacey, Matthew Horne as Gavin, Rob Brydon as Bryn, Melanie Walters as Gwen, Alison Steadman as Pam and Larry Lamb as Mick. Speaking to the crowd gathered at Barry on the last day of filming while donning her character’s costume, Jones said:
“You haven’t seen anything because we’ve been indoors, which shows you are true committed fans of the show, and we hope that you won’t be disappointed on Christmas Day, when all will be revealed. This is our farewell now to Barry and to Trinity Street, so you won’t be seeing us here anymore, but we’ve had a wonderful 17 years. It’s been fantastic.”
Corden then joined her in appreciating the crowd, saying: “Thank you very much to everyone. We’ll see you soon.” As fans will recall, the comedian was the one to announce filming had commenced on the special episode earlier this month via Instagram. He wrote at the time, “Day 1. Here we go x,” with the post displaying the return of his character’s iconic blue Volvo van. The BBC also took to Instagram to celebrate the first day of filming with the message, “Oh. My. Christ. The final episode of Gavin & Stacey started filming today. Truth be told, we’re a little bit excited. Watch #GavinandStacey on #iPlayer this Christmas Day.”
A Completed ‘Gavin & Stacey’ Christmas Special Script
The Gavin & Stacey 2024 Christmas special, which is a farewell to the adored sitcom, was first announced in May, but even the BBC’s director of comedy, Jon Petrie, was not in on the concluding script at the time. Later in July, Corden confirmed that he and co-creator Jones had finally completed the script for the Christmas special. He also spoke about writing the script, particularly “rewriting stuff,” which he felt was more complicated. In his words:
“Writing is really fun because you can just go; anything can happen. But when you rewrite stuff, you’re dealing with a lot of logistics and ‘Look, we might not be able to shoot that’ or ‘This needs to be in this location. Is there any way this can change?’ And frankly, it’s too long. What we have been doing the last few weeks really is just trying to make it as economical as possible.”
The Gavin & Stacey 2024 Christmas Special will arrive on December 25, 2024. Stay tuned to Collider for more information and stream past seasons on Peacock.
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