Entertainment

Gavin And Stacey cast ‘in tears’ after filming last scene, says Alison Steadman

Steadman said filming the final festive episode of the show was emotional.

Gavin And Stacey being filmed
Gavin And Stacey being filmed (Andrew Matthews/PA)
By Ellie Iorizzo, PA Los Angeles Correspondent

Actress Alison Steadman said the cast of Gavin And Stacey were all “dreading” filming the emotional final scene of the BBC sitcom.

Three series of the hit TV series aired between 2007 and 2010, starring Mathew Horne and Joanna Page as young couple Gavin and Stacey who fall in love despite one living in Essex and the other in Wales.

Larry Lamb and Steadman play Gavin’s parents Mick and Pam, while Melanie Walters stars as Stacey’s widowed mother Gwen with Rob Brydon as her Uncle Bryn.

Appearing on BBC’s The One Show, Steadman, 78, said filming the finale was emotional.

“We’ve had a great five weeks, we only finished on Monday night,” she said.

“But we were all dreading that final scene when we finished.

“I think 90% of us were in tears, some people braved it, because it’s been so fantastic.

“We had a wrap party, it was very nice, it was lovely.

“We’ll just miss not filming it any more, it was fabulous.”

The show returned in 2019 for a one-off festive episode, which ended on a cliff-hanger when Ruth Jones’s character Nessa proposed to Neil “Smithy” Smith, played by James Corden.

Jones and Corden, who created and wrote the series and play the best friends of the title characters, confirmed its return in May, sharing a script titled Gavin And Stacey: The Finale.

Steadman remembered reading the original script for the first time.

“James and Ruth together, they are amazing, their scripts, so witty and funny,” she said.

“When I read the first scene I thought I’ve got to do this. I couldn’t wait, I was going through the script and they didn’t let me down.”

Steadman has remembered her time in the series in her memoir, Out Of Character, to be published on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Page shared a picture of her final readthrough script, captioning the Instagram post: “And that’s a wrap,” alongside a heart.

Over the last few months, fans have been trying to catch a glimpse of the cast filming at outside locations, including in South Wales.

The 2019 episode had the highest overnight Christmas rating in 12 years, with an average audience of 11.6 million viewers, making it the biggest festive special since 2008.

By the new year, it had been viewed by 17.1 million people, making it the biggest scripted programme of the decade at the time.

The episode won the impact award at the 2020 National Television Awards.

The festive final episode of Gavin And Stacey will air on BBC iPlayer and BBC One on December 25.