Entertainment

James Corden reveals Gavin And Stacey script has been finished

Corden said: ‘I just feel very emotional by all of it. Everything.’

James Corden during filming for the Gavin and Stacey Christmas special in 2019
James Corden during filming for the Gavin and Stacey Christmas special in 2019 (Andrew Matthews/PA)

James Corden has revealed that he and Ruth Jones have finished writing the script for Gavin And Stacey’s final episode.

The former talk show host, 45, announced in early May along with the show’s co-creator Jones, 57, that the beloved comedy series would make a comeback.

The programme, which aired between 2007 and 2010, returned in 2019 for a festive episode that ended on a cliff-hanger with Nessa, played by Jones, getting down on one knee to propose to Smithy, played by Corden.

Speaking to radio presenter Chris Evans on his Virgin Radio breakfast show, Corden said: “We finished a script a while back and it was too long… rewrites are harder than any writing.

“Rewriting is really difficult. 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 ‘well 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.”

“So really what we have been doing the last few weeks really is just trying to make it as economical as possible. And we finished it (the script) yesterday.”

The cast of Gavin And Stacey at the National Television Awards 2020
The cast of Gavin And Stacey at the National Television Awards 2020

Corden told Evans he feels “very emotional by all of it” as he reflected on the show and his friendship with Jones.

He said: “We’ve finished writing, we will never write anything that Pam (Alison Steadman’s character) says again…

“We will never come up with an interesting thing that Bryn (Rob Brydon’s character) has done.

“And we just looked at each other and we were just like, ‘Ah, isn’t that amazing?’ To even have the luxury of deciding to end it and to be in a position where people still care.

“It’s inconceivable to us – all of it. I just feel very emotional by all of it. Everything.”

The actor, who presented The Late Late Show from 2015 to 2023, is currently starring in West End play The Constituent alongside Motherland star Anna Maxwell Martin.

Earlier in the month, Corden delayed the start of the theatre performance to watch England’s penalty shootout with Switzerland in the Euro 2024 quarter-final.