Gavin and Stacey is set to return to our screens for the first time in five years, it emerged today.
A new episode of the beloved BBC sitcom will reportedly be filmed over the summer and screened at Christmas.
James Corden, who stars as Gavin’s best friend Smithy, is set to reunite with cast members including Mathew Horne, Joanna Page, Rob Brydon, Alison Steadman, Larry Lamb and Julia Davis for the special.
Fans have long hoped Corden’s decision to move back to the UK following his eight-year stint hosting The Late Late Show in the US will increase the chances of making another episode.
And after Corden, 45, was spotted meeting co-creator Ruth Jones, 57, in London’s Soho in November, speculation went into overdrive.
The last time Gavin and Stacey aired was in 2019, when a Christmas special saw Nessa – played by Jones – get down on one knee and propose to Smithy. The episode left a huge cliffhanger, with viewers left to wonder what would happen to the pair and their unexpected relationship.
James Corden, Joanna Page, Matthew Horne, Ruth Jones all starred in the classic sitcom
James was spotted meeting co-creator Ruth Jones in London’s Soho in November 2023
The last time Gavin and Stacey aired was in 2019, when a Christmas special saw Nessa – played by Jones – get down on one knee and propose to Cordon’s Smithy
Gavin and Stacey followed the love story of Joanna and Mathew Horne’s characters as they navigated their family lives in Essex and Wales
Deadline reports that most of the cast will return for the special, including Matthew Horne as Gavin and Joanna Page as Stacey.
Other members of the ensemble cast will include Rob Brydon, Alison Steadman, Larry Lamb and Julia Davis.
Previously, Corden told the RTS Cambridge Convention he felt ‘compelled to come home’ after leaving The Late Late Show after hosting 1,000.
However, he has not stopped interviewing celebrities as his new venture, called This Life of Mine with James Corden, has already scored top guests such as Martin Scorsese, Kim Kardashian and David Beckham.
He also confessed that he didn’t know if he would do any more Gavin and Stacey but stressed he would ‘love to make something together again’ with Jones at the convention.
Meanwhile, Gavin and Stacy fans went into meltdown earlier today when the news of a Christmas special emerged.
One wrote on X, formerly Twitter: ‘GAVIN AND STACY AHHHHHHHHH’. Another said: ‘Gavin & Stacey is back?!?! OMG I suddenly feel so much better!!!’ A third said: ‘OMG YES’. A fourth wrote: ‘Gavin & Stacey back for a Christmas special! O M and G!!’
Sheridan Smith addressed the possibility of a reboot of the smash hit sitcom in an interview late last year.
Speaking to Jason King and Kelly Brook on Heart Breakfast, Smith said she didn’t know if the show will return, but said she thinks ‘so many shows overdo it’.
The actress – who played Rudi, the sister of Corden’s Smithy – suggested that the show would not be back, despite fans ‘all wanting’ the all-star cast to return.
During her radio appearance, she said: ‘I have not a clue if they’re going to do any more or not, I really don’t know.’
‘I think what they’ve done is genius, they’ve left it on a high haven’t they, so many shows overdo it, because we all want more, we all want more Gavin & Stacey.’
Fans of the iconic British sitcom shared their delight at the show’s return on social media
Fans shared classic moments in gif format to express their happiness
Her comments came after Page crushed fans’ hopes of a comeback, claiming the legendary sitcom was unlikely to ever return.
Speaking exclusively to , Joanna said: ‘I can see them never doing any more because it was nice to leave it on a cliffhanger because it’s up to the viewer to imagine what would have happened. So I can imagine them ending it like that.’
Yet she added: ‘All I can say is, if they were going to do another one I hope it’s soon because we’re all getting so old, I don’t particularly want to see Stacey get that much older.
‘And if there is a comeback, I’ll find out at the same time as the public because I don’t get told anything.’
The BBC today declined to comment.
Previously, actors Larry Lamb and Alison Steadman, who play Gavin’s father Mick and mother Pam, revealed a huge show secret that will no doubt leave many fans in shock.
Joanna Page previously crushed fans’ hopes of a Gavin and Stacey comeback, saying the legendary sitcom is unlikely to ever return
Gavin and Stacey actors Larry Lamb (L) and Alison Steadman (R)
Joanna Page previously revealed when her Gavin and Stacey co-stars will ‘reunite’ for new a new show together
In the three-part series Alison & Larry: Billericay To Barry, Larry, 75, and Alison, 76, will take a trip down memory lane and include some special guests during their travels
Larry told the Radio Times in August last year: ‘Gavin & Stacey was all filmed in Wales, nobody offered us the opportunity to go to Essex.
‘[Producers] said, ‘Billericay’s where you’re from’, so we just got on with it, we just do what we’re told.’
Larry reveled the secret on a media tour promoting an upcoming travel show he hosted alongside his on-screen wife Alison where they traveled from Barry – Stacey’s home in the sitcom – to Billericay where the Shipman’s lived.
The travel show also featured Page, who did the voiceovers for her on-screen in-laws, which the closest fans believed they would get to a full reunion until now.
Alison, 77, previously revealed what the cast and crew did after they were finished filming for the 2019 Christmas special – which famously ended with Nessa getting down on one knee to propose to Smithy.
Alison recalled how the everyone ‘was so sad’ the series was over that they would all ‘put their heads down and cry’ at the end of their last scene.
She said: ‘I have to say it is the only show I have ever worked on where when we finished each character’s final scenes like, ‘That’s a wrap for Alison Steadman’.
‘Everyone used to put their heads down and cry as we were so sad it was over. It was such a good experience for everyone.
Alison Steadman revealed a huge secret from the final day of filming iconic BBC sit-com Gavin & Stacey
The actress, 77, opened up about the emotional final day on set of the 2019 Christmas Day special
Rob Brydon as Bryn, Melanie Walters as Gwen, Larry Lamb as Mick, and Alison as Pam in 2008
Stars of Gavin and Stacey Ruth Jones, James Corden, Joanna Page and Mathew Horne pictured with Christmas decorations
‘I think the magic of the series was that everyone loved each other and the audience loves that.’
Reminiscing on her first day on set last year, Alison recalled meeting stars of the show Joanna and Mathew Horne, who played Gavin.
She said: ‘Joanna came running over to me going, ‘Hiya, my name is Jo and I am playing Stacey’. I looked at her and thought, ‘You are perfect’. Then I saw Matt and the two of them together were perfect. It was brilliantly cast.’
Joanna previously let fans in on a secret about one of the famous Gavin & Stacey scenes from the original festive episode in 2008.
The Welsh actress said when her on-screen father-in-law Mick Shipman took to the keyboard to perform Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas but the moment was actually fake.
Joanna explained that Larry Lamb, who played Mick, had piano lessons but it made no difference as he was still ‘dreadful’ on the instrument so editors made the decision to dub the scene.
In the episode, Mick ‘played’ the festive classic while surrounded by the main cast, Gavin, Pam, Smithy and Nessa, in the Shipmans’ living room after his wife gifted him the keyboard for Christmas.