BBCGavin and Stacey fans are still reeling over the news that a Christmas special will be coming to our screens later this year, 10 years after the show’s finale.
Details surrounding new eagerly anticipated episode are pretty thin on the ground at the moment, but if Larry Lamb’s reaction is anything to go by, it’s going to be emotional.
The actor, who plays Gavin’s dad Mick Shipman in the immensely popular BBC series, was left ‘weeping’ after reading the opening scene of the new script.
“I literally got the script just before I came on [air] and I read the first scene and I was weeping.”
Actor @larrylamb47 tells @BBCWorldatone about the #GavinandStacey Xmas special https://t.co/M5JnVHdwl0 pic.twitter.com/kXlknM3SDy
— The World at One (@BBCWorldatOne) May 28, 2019
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s World at One, he said:
I literally got the script just before I came on and I read the first scene and I was weeping.
He went on to praise writers Ruth Jones and James Corden, who we know affectionately as Nessa and Smithy.
Larry continued:
It’s always in the writing though isn’t it? That’s the thing, it’s in the writing. What do you capture when you get it down?
People ask me this question over and over again, ‘Is any of it or was any of it ad-libbed?’ It was never ad-libbed. James and Ruth captured the feeling, they captured the moment.
So it’s official…G&S rides again ..
we’re doing a 2019 Christmas special ….a treat for the millions of you who’ve waited so patiently… love to you all ..and Happy Christmas!!!! X— Larry Lamb (@larrylamb47) May 28, 2019
Larry went on to point out that it wasn’t just the writing that made up such an incredible series, but the cast too.
He added:
They got it right, and then they spent a lot of time figuring out the people to play those parts and matched us all up.
We all sat around in a hotel every night together like a family and the whole thing became that unit – off stage, as well as on stage – and the magic was captured on paper first and then we picked up and got it.
BBCThe hour-long Christmas special will see the return of Matthew Horne (Gavin), Joanna Page (Stacey), Rob Brydon (Uncle Bryn), Melanie Walters (Gwen) and Alison Steadman (Pam), as well as Larry, James Corden and Ruth Jones.
When news broke, Ruth and James spoke about why they decided to revisit the show a whole 10 years after the show’s finale.
BBCThey said:
Over the last 10 years we’ve talked a lot about Gavin & Stacey – where they might be today and what their lives might look like. And so in secret we took the plunge and wrote this one hour special.
We’ve loved revisiting Barry and Essex again and bringing the characters back together has been a joy. We’re so excited to get the chance to work with our fabulous cast and crew once more and to give fans of the show a festive treat this Christmas.
Thank you BBC for helping to make this happen.
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via [email protected]
Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.