James Corden insists Gavin and Stacey WILL return for final special episode – and ‘it really will be the last’

JAMES Corden has revealed that Gavin and Stacey will return for a final Christmas special.

The comedian, who plays Smithy, insists the next instalment of the BBC comedy he writes with Ruth Jones “really will be the last”.

“We’re all on a WhatsApp text group. All of us and Matt [Horne] and Jo [Page] did a special radio show for BBC Wales the other day that will go out on Christmas,” he told the Metro.

“And we all contributed to that somewhat. And we’re always talking, all of us, and Ruth [Jones] and I talk all the time.

“I hope so much we do it. The next one will really be the last, final part. 

“And that is a little too much pressure for my chest to take at the moment, if I’m honest, in amongst the anxiety of 2020.

“If I had any notion of trying to make another Christmas special I don’t think I’d be able to breathe.”

There have been mixed signals from other cast members as Joanna Page, who plays Stacey, told The Celeb Report’s Fabulous magazine: “As a fan, surely they’ve got to do another one.

“I don’t think we’d ever do another series because I don’t think we could get everyone together for long enough, but I can’t imagine they could leave it the way they did. One more special, then done.” 

But Ruth Jones warned that the show may NEVER return.

The 54-year-old actress, who has not only starred in the much-loved show as Nessa Jenkins, but helped write it, dropped the bombshell during an interview on This Morning.

The devastating news came just days after the BBC confirmed that the popular comedy show WILL be coming back after its huge Christmas-special success last year.

Gavin and Stacey first appeared on our screens back in 2007 and graced us with three brilliant seasons, before finishing up for good in 2010.

Last year fans of the show were over the moon when Gavin (Matthew Horne), Stacey (Joanna Page), Smithy (James Corden), Nessa, Pam (Alison Steadman), Mick (Larry Lamb), Bryn (Rob Brydon) and Gwen (Melaine Walters) reunited for the festive season in 2019.

But Ruth brought fans right back down to earth when she explained to the daytime television show that it probably isn’t going to happen.

She told the hosts: ‘There aren’t any plans to write anything.

“Obviously James (Corden) is in America and I’m in Wales.

“The joy of our last special is that if we never go back to Barry, we’ll always wonder what happened next.”

To make sure she made things crystal clear, Ruth continued: “I quite like leaving it hanging. I’m sorry I don’t have any better news.”

And many fans have took to Twitter to share their disapointment about the news.

One wrote: “@thismorning I SAW THAT ON FACEBOOK THAT THEY WERE GOING TO MAKE MORE GAVIN AND STACEY TELL ME THAT ITS TRUE (obvs it isn’t as Ruth just said).”

Another said: “Vanessa shanessa Jenkins has just confirmed on this morning there isn’t any plans for more Gavin and Stacey and it has absolutely ruined my Friday.”

A third tweeted: “Just when you thought 2020 couldn’t get any worse the bbc lied about there being more Gavin and Stacey episodes.”

A fourth chimed in: “BBC confirmed Gavin and Stacey is coming back and then Ruth Jones just said there’s no plans to really playing with my heart here man.”

Although this may come as a blow to many fans, BBC’s director of TV, Charlotte Moore, did explain that it was never planned for the show to make a return this year.

She said: “That wasn’t something that was going to happen this year,” Moore revealed.

But then she dropped the bombshell: “One day.”

Speculation arose that the show was making a return when Joanna Page and Mathew Horne were spotted on a night out together in Wales.

Superfan Kirstie Smith, who took the picture of the stars told Wales Online: “I was so chuffed to see them but obviously gutted due to what’s going on I couldn’t actually go up to them properly but at least I managed to get a quick picture.”

Although many fans want to know what is next in store for Nessa and Smithy, after the arcade worker got down on one knee and asked the builder to be her husband, it looks like we may not ever find out.

In September, when asked by Capital Breakfast show’s host Roman Kemp, Ruth hinted that we could be waiting a long time to see if they ever become husband and wife.

She told the host: “Who knows? It took us 10 years to come back.

“It might take us another 10 if we come back.”

There are plenty of other questions that viewers would also like to know the answer to.

Many fans want to know whether Gavin and Stacey stay married, what really happened between Uncle Bryn and Jason on the boat and does Pam ever get to use the good towels?!

Gavin & Stacey is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.