Gavin and Stacey’s finale was watched by more than 12 million people on Christmas Day and some viewers pointed something out about a location that featured on the show

Fans of Gavin & Stacey have pointed out a huge error about a location that featured in the Christmas special.

The BBC sitcom returned for its “finale” on Christmas Day and over 12 million viewers tuned in. There were surprise appearances, like from Sonia (played by Laura Aikman), who was preparing to marry Smithy (James Corden) at the start. Towards the end of the episode though, Smithy ditched her at the altar after objections from wedding guests. He then announced that he wanted to stop Nessa (Ruth Jones) from boarding a ship at the Port of Southampton, with her having planned to take some time away from the UK with a new job.

A host of characters joined him on the coach journey from the wedding, at a venue in Essex, to Southampton. Despite some issues along the way, Smithy made it just in time and proposed to Nessa – with them later seen getting married.

Several signs suggested that scenes towards the end of the episode were based at the Port of Southampton, but some viewers from the area suggested that the scenes at the port, and others set in the city, weren’t filmed there as it didn’t look like the location. The scenes are instead understood to have been filmed in Wales, including at Newport Docks, in Newport, which is more than 100 miles away.

A host of characters headed to Southampton in Gavin and Stacey: the Finale to stop Nessa (played by Ruth Jones, left) boarding a ship ( 
Image:
BBC)

One fan wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “[Finale] was great but as someone from #Southampton, the perception of the port was completely wrong.” Whilst another said on the platform recently: “[Episode] was just sheer perfection (glossing over the ‘Southampton’ docks location).”

Alongside a laughing emoji, one person said: “Disgusted. This is not our great Southampton!” Someone else teased: “Superb acting job by Newport Docks, playing Southampton docks on the #GavinAndStacey Christmas special.”

“No way in hell that was Southampton, the arch look[s] similar but not the road,” one person wrote. Someone said: “Well that’s definitely not Southampton is it.” Beside a laughing emoji, one fan wrote: “The way they tried to pass Barry as Southampton made me laugh. Ain’t no part of Southampton looking like that.” Someone replied to them: “And that Southampton docks was actually Newport docks”.

The scenes are however understood to have been filmed at Newport Dock, pictured, rather than at the Port of Southampton ( 
Image:
Mirrorpix)
Whilst one person wrote on Facebook: “It didn’t look right straight away! […] This was the only upsetting thing about it was that they didn’t actually come here to film.” Another said: “To be honest, it didn’t look anything like Southampton.”

Someone commented though: “I knew immediately that it wasn’t Southampton but just pleased my favourite city was featured in an absolutely amazing episode. Tidy.” Similarly, one fan wrote: “Having lived in Southampton my whole life I knew straight away it wasn’t Southampton, it really didn’t matter, it was brilliant from start to finish.”

It isn’t the first time that the show has used a location in Wales to represent somewhere across the border in England. Although his character Mick Shipman’s home is set in Billericay, Larry Lamb once told Radio Times that scenes weren’t filmed there. As previously reported, he said about the original series: “Gavin & Stacey was all filmed in Wales, nobody offered us the opportunity to go to Essex.”