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13 June 2024, 17:42
As we wait for the final episode of Gavin and Stacey to air this Christmas, writer and actress Ruth Jones has revealed what fans can expect from the festive special.
Gavin and Stacey star Ruth Jones, 57, has hinted that viewers could expect some shocking storylines from this year's Christmas episode, which could leave fans broken hearted.
The Nessa actress joined her comedy co-star Rob Brydon, 59, on his Wondery podcast 'Brydon &' where she opened up about the upcoming festive special.
Speaking to Rob, Ruth explained that she is currently starring in Sister Act on the West End and is often quizzed by fans on what they can expect from the final episode of Gavin and Stacey.
While she doesn't totally want to spill the beans, Ruth jokingly told listeners what she says to the eager viewers.
Ruth stated: "At the end of Sister Act, I go out of the stage door and people and there’s often people there wanting programmes signed, which is lovely. But they’ll say 'I’m the biggest Gavin and Stacey fan' or 'thank you so much for this Christmas special' or 'You must be so excited, I can’t wait til Christmas'.
"A couple of people at the stage door, say 'What’s going to happen, is Smithy going to say yes?'. And I go to them, 'Do you seriously want me to tell you what’s going to happen in the Christmas Special?' And they go 'yes!'. And I go 'but you don’t, because what happens on Christmas Day when you come to watch it, you’ll know what’s going to happen.' And they go, 'please tell me'.
"So, I go 'there’s going to be helicopter crash, most of the cast are going to get killed', and I just make stuff up."
While Ruth may be joking about the character deaths, she and the rest of the cast have kept tight-lipped about what will happened in the Christmas Day extravaganza.
The last time we saw the Barry Island gang was back in 2019 where the last episode saw the series end on a cliff-hanger, with Nessa proposing to Smithy (James Cordon).
We also witnessed Gavin (Matthew Horne) and Stacey (Joanna Page) go through a rough patch in their marriage, however things were left on a hopeful note, with fans rooting for the pair to stick together.
News of a new 2024 episode was first leaked in September 2023, with the cast initially coming forward to deny the claims. However it now appears this was true, with Ruth commenting on how upset she was about the leak getting out.
The actress disclosed: "I was very sad that it got leaked. James and I had been writing since September, which is always the case with us. We write it and then we go to the BBC and say do you want it because if we didn’t feel it was going to be good enough, no one else would know and nobody would be any the wiser.
"So, when we felt it was in good enough shape, that’s when we contacted the BBC. There was all this stuff about Netflix and a bidding war… absolute rubbish, you just go, where did this come from? And so, once we agreed with the BBC we were going to do it, and obviously they were very happy about it because it’s finishing a story and this will be the finale."
Unfortunately Ruth and James had to wait months to announce the new episode, with the 57-year-old explaining: "There’s a whole process and you can’t announce it because you’ve got to make sure the cast are all available, that the deals are done and the budget is in place… all of these things. Then this journalist went and leaked it."
When the news was officially announced, Ruth and James took an iconic photo and posted it on Instagram to reveal the Christmas episode.
However this exciting picture happened under unusual circumstances, with Ruth claiming: "James is rehearsing a play at the moment, The Constituent at the Old Vic, I was doing a show in the night, so the only time we had was a 20-minute crossover before I had to do my warmup and he finished his rehearsals. So, he came to my dressing room in the Dominion Theatre, we got the script with the title on the front, Gavin and Stacey and the finale, and we took a picture in my dressing room of us both holding the script.
"And that’s where it is. And now when people come to see me after the show, they go 'can I get a photo', and yes do you want to get it done where we did the photo of the announcement.
"And it still had an impact, enough time had passed, and people were still really excited."