Ruth Jones AKA Vanessa Shanessa Jenkins took home a well-deserved BAFTA for Best Female Performance in a Comedy, and Gavin & Stacey fans around the world rejoiced when she accepted the role as her iconic character, Nessa.
However, that wasn’t the only treat for Gavin & Stacey fans. Ruth is best known for creating and starring in the beloved show alongside her longtime pal, James Corden, and after delivering a tear-jerking finale last Christmas, she and James appeared to have put down their pens for good. That is, we believed that to be the case until Ruth hinted at otherwise at the TV BAFTAS.
She said, ‘I've had a 17-year journey with this character, which is quite a rare thing, I guess, and to have worked with the people I've worked with on the show over this period of time— the cast, the crew, the production team— everybody's just been such a joy to work with. But I think it's just been a really lovely rounding up of this astonishing nearly 20 years and working with James. I love working with James Corden, I really do. And I hope that we will carry on working together. I think we will. We will, because we just both like sitting in a room together. We do a lot of napping, but we do write as well when we get going. And, yeah, I just love, love working with him.’
So, the good news is, we’ll be getting more, and most likely hilarious, content from the genius team that is Ruth Jones and James Corden— no matter what you may think about him, you can’t deny that Gavin & Stacey is a damn good show. The only downside is it won’t be another Gavin & Stacey instalment. However, with the 2024 finale tying everything up with a neat bow, fans probably don't need to see anything further from the Essex/ Wales crew.
Despite the fact that we’ll never get to see any more of Nessa’s antics, she’s still very real and present for Ruth.
Ruth admitted, ‘I'm not going lie. She's never going go. She's there. She's in my soul. She's in my heart. And she comes in quite handy sometimes because I can go, “Oh, love, back off.” But you know, for somebody who just doesn't get fazed by anything, even Nessa Shanessa Jenkins was really, really shocked and honoured by this tonight.’