James Corden gives major update on script for Gavin & Stacey Christmas special

Beloved sitcom is set to return for one last time on Christmas Day, five years after the previous festive special

James Corden has revealed that he and Ruth Jones have finished the script for the final episode of their hit sitcom Gavin & Stacey.

The pair confirmed in May that the series, which aired on the BBC from 2007 to 2010 then returned for a Christmas special in 2019, would come back for one last hurrah on Christmas Day 2024.

Forty-five-year-old Corden, who recently returned to the UK after spending eight years at the helm of The Late, Late Show in the United States, confirmed to radio host Chris Evans that he and longtime friend Jones, 57, had put the finishing touches to their screenplay earlier this week.

Speaking on Evans’s Virgin Radio breakfast show, Corden revealed that he met up with Jones on Thursday night (18 July) after his family had been to see her perform in Sister Act in the West End, then the duo proceeded to make their final changes.

“It was my niece Ellen’s 18th birthday yesterday,” he told Evans. “So my mum and dad, my sisters, their partners, my nephew, they all went to see Ruth’s Sister Act last night, for her 18th birthday. They chose not to see my play [The Constituent at the Old Vic] because they wanted something that was perhaps a bit more uplifting.

“So I then went to meet them in Ruth’s dressing room, and we had a glass of champagne, and then they had to get the train, and Ruth and I walked back to her place,” he added.

“We just sat and we had a drink, and we actually sent the cast a photo on our  little chat group, saying we’ve finished our shows, and we’ve finished the rewrites, and a script will be winding its way to you. I guess they’ll get the script in the next few days.”

Corden admitted that the initial script for the special episode was too long, so he and Jones had spent some time trying to cut it back.

“What we have been doing the last few weeks really is just trying to make it as economical as possible,” he revealed.

Finale: the upcoming Christmas special will be the last ever episode of the sitcom (BBC)

Gavin & Stacey follows the relationship between Essex boy Gavin (Mathew Horne) and girlfriend Stacey (Joanna Page), who is from Barry in Wales, and also charts the lives of their respective best friends, Smithy and Nessa, played by Corden and Jones.

The previous Christmas special, which broke BBC viewing records, ended on a cliffhanger as Nessa got down on one knee to propose to Smithy after years of an on-off relationship.

The new episode will also see the return of longstanding cast members such as Rob Brydon, Alison Steadman and Larry Lamb.