Almost ten years since we said goodbye to Barry Island, Gavin and Stacey is returning to our screens for a Christmas special. (As Pam would say, ‘Oh my Christ!’) James Corden finally confirmed the news - which seems to have been rumoured for years and years - this morning on Twitter, sharing a photo of the finished script which he wrote with Nessa (Ruth Jones). ‘Ruth Jones and I have been keeping this secret for a while,’ he wrote. ‘We’re excited to share it with you. See you on Christmas Day @BBCOne #GavinandStacey.’
A few hours later, and that tweet alone already has over 185,000 thousand likes - and ‘Gavin’ and ‘Stacey’ are both separate worldwide trending terms. Safe to say that we all just can’t get enough... But why?
Well, what will definitely help is that even now Gavin and Stacey is re-watchable. I would not be lying if I said that the entirety of my family have watched every episode over 10 times. (The Christmas special is looking to be more like 30 times, tbh.) And unlike other comedy shows of the same era - Little Britain, I’m looking at you - it’s aged pretty well, without too many toe-curlingly offensive moments.
But asking my friends why they too adore the Shipmans and the Wests (yes, they were named after the serial killers), one told me it’s the regional family dynamic which they enjoy so much. ‘As an Essex boy it nails the ‘Essex’ family perfectly without feeling stereotypical,’ he told me. ‘Spoke to a Welsh colleague this morning and they feel the same about Barry Island. Plus brilliant characters, smart writing and, like all great sitcoms, touches on serious topics.’ Another pointed out how the show has it’s share of strong male and female characters - and writers! - saying, ‘If there was any other reason to love it besides it being hilarious, it’s a truly gender balanced cast and writing room'.
Another, more bluntly, put forward the hypothesis that people say they like the BBC show as a way of admitting that they find (the now inescapable and ridiculously famous) James Corden hilarious, without actually admitting defeat. He said, ‘Personally I think it's a way to say you actually think James Corden is funny without saying you like James Corden.’ Ouch.
Another mate said that Gavin and Stacey has stood the test of time as it is so endlessly quotable. It’s hard to imagine shouting, ‘Oh, what’s occurin?’ without anybody getting the reference. Ditto shouting ‘chicken bhuna, lamb bhuna and prawn bhuna, mushroom rice, bag of chips, keema naan and 9 poppadoms’ when you’re getting a takeaway. One thing’s for sure is that the new Christmas special has a lot of expectations to live up to. As Bryn would say, ‘Well, I for one can’t wait. Not just for the Toblerone, but for the whole thing.'