Gavin And Stacey star Larry Lamb says the show’s ending is ‘really beautiful’

By Naomi Clarke, PA Senior Entertainment Reporter

Gavin And Stacey star Larry Lamb has said the ending of the beloved sitcom is “really beautiful” after the cast finished filming the final episode.

The hit TV series, which followed the titular couple falling in love despite one living in Essex and the other in Wales, aired for three series between 2007 and 2010 and returned for a one-off festive episode in 2019.

In recent weeks, the cast reunited to film a final Christmas special after the show’s creators, James Corden and Ruth Jones, revealed in May that they had written one last instalment.

Gavin and Stacey Christmas special filming – Wales
Joanna Page, who plays Stacey Shipman and Ruth Jones, who plays Nessa Jenkins during filming for the Gavin and Stacey Christmas Day special. Photo: Ben Birchall/PA. Photo by Ben Birchall

Lamb, who played Gavin’s father Mick in the show, told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “It was a trip down memory lane because suddenly there we are and we’re facing the fact that, effectively, this is the end of this venture, the end of this journey, and it was so emotional.

“And chronologically, on the last day of filming, we were filming the end of the story, which is so unusual because nine times out of 10 you’ll find you’re doing the end on the first day, and you’re doing the beginning right at the end of it all.

“What we were filming was the end of the story on the very last day.

“There’s a mental ‘tick, tick’ going on all the time and the emotions (are) just building and building and building.”

He added that the cast knew the ending going into filming as they had sat down beforehand and read the script together.

“The end comes bursting out at you and it’s absolutely… it’s just beautiful, really beautiful”, he said.

The actor starred alongside Alison Steadman on the show, who portrayed Gavin’s mother Pam, as well as Mathew Horne and Joanna Page who played Gavin And Stacey.

Melanie Walters also starred as Stacey’s widowed mother Gwen with Rob Brydon as her Uncle Bryn.

The one-off festive episode in 2019 ended on a cliffhanger when Jones’s character Nessa proposed to Neil “Smithy” Smith, played by Corden.

Asked if the couple get married in the finale, Lamb said: “That would be such a boo boo to let anything out… no way Jose.”

Gavin and Stacey
James Corden and Ruth Jones holding a script for Gavin and Stacey: The Finale. Photo: James Corden and Ruth Jones/PA. Photo by James Corden and Ruth Jones

He also said the possibility of the show ever returning again was a question for Corden and Jones as well as the BBC as he described the show as their “baby”.

The actor had to work through the interview with a hoarse voice, which he picked up after the Gavin and Stacey wrap party.

Discussing the party, Lamb said: “James and Ruth really pushed the boat out and it was a wonderful party because over those five, six weeks you’ve got, I suppose a total of about 80 people all come together.”

Lamb is set to star in new Paramount + drama series Curfew, which imagines a society where all men are under a government-imposed curfew.

When discussing the role, the actor said he believes he is “much more a man of a moment” in relation to women’s protection while his character is “locked in time”.