Devastating realisation caused James Corden to pitch Gavin and Stacey to Ruth Jones
Ruth Jones, who appears on Who Do You Think You Are? this evening, teamed up with her friend James Corden to write the hit BBC comedy show, Gavin and Stacey
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The story of Stacey West and Gavin Shipman’s unlikely romance across the Severn Bridge became an unexpected comedy hit – turning creators and stars Ruth Jones and James Cordon into household names.
Three series and two Christmas special later, including a cliffhanger which left everyone shouting on their TVs, the show has picked up a selection of awards and is loved by people of all ages.
But the show, which also stars Rob Brydon and Larry Lamb, came about after a heartbreaking realisation from James as he shot to fame in Alan Bennett’s play The History Boys.
Speaking on his Desert Island Discs in 2012, he describes his time on the stage and working with Bennett as “life-changing”.
He says: “We met for like 10 minutes, and he went away and he basically wrote the boy I was at school. He wrote this character as this cheeky, class clown who was the first with a quip. I found that kind of incredible.
“The whole experience of that play was life-changing but the biggest thing about being in History Boys for me was a realisation that if things were going happen for me I was going to have to try and do those things myself.
“When the play became a huge hit here in London, almost every of the day most of the boys were coming in with film scripts or TV scripts under their arm, and that wasn’t really happening for me.
“Because of the way that you look, people they just don’t see you like that.
“I thought if no one is going to write this parts for you, then you might just have to do it for yourself.”
He later adds: “It’s born out of the feeling of having to meet your career half way.”
So determined to grow his career, he started coming up with his own ideas.
Shortly after he went to a wedding in Barry Island where he didn’t really know anyone, and the idea of Gavin and Stacey was born.
He told the BBC radio show: “I was watching this wedding unfold. People are spending a really long day together, people who don’t know each other.
“They start being really polite, talking about the weather and how they got here.
“And at the end of the night they might be doing Oops Upside Your Head and a couple of them might be snogging. There is a journey here of a day.”
They originally planned for it just to be Gavin and Stacey’s wedding, crammed into an hour-long one off show. However producers wanted something more, so they went away and came up with the idea for a series.
James and Ruth brought the Shipman and West family back, along with their characters Nessa and Smithy, for a reunion Christmas special last year – leaving fans desperate for another series.
It became the most-watched Christmas special since 2008, and secured a 49.2% audience share, according to the BBC.
A whopping 18.5 viewers tuned in to mark the epic comeback.
However Ruth and James have both said we’re not going to see any more from Barry Island for the time being.
Addressing the speculation on Heart Breakfast, Ruth assured hosts Amanda Holden and Jamie Theakston that she and Late Late Show star James, 42, do not have any new projects up their sleeves.
The much-loved comedy queen explained that following an interview on Lorraine, fans had misconstrued her words.
“I think people took me up the wrong way,” she admitted.
“I said that James and I love to write together in the same room and but it’s not possible because he’s in America and I’m in the UK.
“People took that as me saying that when we’re back in a room together, Gavin And Stacey will be back. But that’s not the case,” she insisted.
The Christmas special ended on a huge cliffhanger, which left viewers gasping for another season after Ness got down on one knee and proposed to Smithy.
James has also shut down speculation of a comeback, citing distance as being a key factor back in February.
“I’m being completely honest, there are no plans to do anymore because a lot of it is about time and distance,” he told BBC News.
Although the Smithy actor insisted that there was nothing in the pipeline, he didn’t shut down the idea completely.
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