Gavin and Stacey star James Corden has revealed the show was nearly scrapped after the first draft was ‘awful’ and it was named something different before it aired

Gavin and Stacey star James Corden has revealed that the 2019 Christmas cliffhanger episode was very nearly scrapped, after struggling to write it with co-creator Ruth Jones.

Gavin & Stacey: A Fond Farewell covers the series from start to finish, how it became a huge hit and that cliffhanger ending in 2019, as well as featuring an emotional goodbye from some of its stars. Co-creator Ruth also reveals how the beloved comedy was originally called something very different to Gavin and Stacey.

In the behind the scenes BBC documentary, star and co-creator James revealed how the Christmas cliffhanger episode in 2019 very nearly didn’t make it at all. When James and ‘Nessa’ actress and fellow co-creator Ruth Jones came to write it in 2014, their first version was “awful”.

Gavin and Stacey: A Fond Farewell gave viewers a behind the scenes look at the beloved sitcom ( 
Image:
PA)
James recalled: “The 2019 special, I don’t know if people know this, but we gave up on it at one point. We’d written maybe half way through and we read it and we were like ‘this is rubbish, this is awful, it’s terrible’. Like it’s extraordinary how close we were to just…I actually remember saying to each other ‘well thank god we didn’t call the BBC’.”

He added that they ate dinner and then decided to try again, with their next attempt luckily much better. He continued: “I said ‘Look, I think we probably owe it to the show to go back in and talk about why it’s bad and say goodbye to it really.’ We were like two hours from saying goodbye to it and we can never do it again because it isn’t very good.”

Ruth added: “But then we realised – which is true for every episode of Gavin and Stacey – that the reason these people are together is because of Gavin and Stacey, so we realised that the reason it wasn’t working is because there wasn’t anything substantial for them.” James concluded: “And then that night at 11pm is when we came up with the scene of Stacey keeping hold of the matches and it changed everything.”

The documentary revealed Gavin and Stacey was almost known as ‘It’s My Day’ instead ( 
Image:
PA)
The stars also revealed how the idea for the beloved BBC sitcom was thought up and it was named something totally different. Ruth explained: “I said let’s write this treatment so we can send it off, it was called It’s My Day, it literally was just about the wedding with lots of these little vignettes.” James added: “We also wrote, really just for us, a backstory for of who they were.”

After sending it off to the BBC, the response was positive but ultimately there was “no space” for a one hour comedy special, so they were asked to turn it into a series instead. Deciding to explore the backstory of the romance then became Gavin and Stacey, which first hit screens in 2007 and became an instant hit.

The finale episode of Gavin & Stacey aired on Christmas Day, and was watched by 12.5 million viewers who had tuned in. The episode reunited the cast following the last festive special in 2019 and there were some surprise appearances in it too. Despite the Christmas Day episode being the last ever for Gavin & Stacey, there has already been talk of a spin-off with BBC bosses said to be keen. BBC bosses reportedly see it as “madness” to walk away from such a big hit, despite Ruth and James being “adamant” Gavin and Stacey is over. An insider has claimed: “But, when a programme achieves such results, execs will always hope for more. At the end of the day, ratings talk and it would be madness to close the door on such a hit forever when fans loved it so much.”