One of the stars of Gavin and Stacey has returned to the small screen, but many fans won’t recognise him as he looks very different from his iconic role on the hit comedy

Actor Robert Wilfort, who played Stacey’s older brother Jason in Gavin & Stacey, looks very different in his new role in the afternoon TV series Father Brown.

Robert is guest starring in the BBC daytime mystery drama Father Brown as a clean-shaven maths professor, but he is best known for his role as Jason, who went on the infamous fishing trip with Uncle Bryn in the hit sitcom that ended last year

For years, the fishing trip which neither Jason nor Bryn would speak of was at the centre of much Gavin & Stacey fan speculation, with many viewers hoping that whatever happened on the trip would finally be revealed in the 2024 Christmas finale. However, while we did learn during the episode that Dave Coaches knew what happened, viewers were not let in on the secret, although after the end credits there was a tiny glimpse of Bryn and Jason on the trip before anything happened.

Robert appears in an episode of the current series of Father Brown ( 
Image:
BBC Studios/Gary Moyes)
Robert revealed that he was happy fans never found out about the pair’s secret. At a special screening of the finale for cast and crew he said: “I’d like to say now and forever, the joke has always been you don’t find out what happens on the fishing trip. I’m sorry everybody, but that has always been the joke and it always will be because it’s funny. It’s funnier that way. And I was so pleased that we didn’t reveal it – because we’ve never known what it is.”

Now, Robert is at the centre of another mystery in the Father Brown episode that aired on Friday 7 March. He appears in a series 12 episode as William Fitzgibbon, a Professor of Maths at Gloucester University. However, he ends up as the focus of a murder investigation when a member of the local sewing circle (Carlyss Peer) is found stabbed to death. The episode also features Nicola Stephenson as his wife Martha, Beyond Paradise’s Felicity Montagu as battleaxe Judith Skelton, and Coronation Street’s Naomi Radcliffe.

The series is loosely inspired by G. K. Chesterton’s short stories penned between 1910 and 1936. The character of Father Brown (portrayed by Mark Williams) remains consistent with the source material – a perceptive, gentle priest who has a deep understanding of human nature, enabling him to solve complex murder cases.

Robert is best known for his role as Jason in Gavin & Stacey ( 
Image:
BBC/Toffee International Ltd./Tom Jackson)
The books were set between the two World Wars, while the BBC series is set in the 1950s, a period marked by rationing, illegality of homosexuality and abortion, and the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

The show, which began in 2013, has now run for over 100 episodes and Mark Williams, who plays Father Brown, said: “We broadcast the 12th series of Father Brown this January, which means we have made 130 episodes. I was feeling quite impressed by this, I thought there can’t have been many people who’ve played the eponymous character in a series for 130 shows. Then I read about Jack Warner who played Dixon of Dock Green 432 times, so that took the wind out of my sails a bit.

The show, which began in 2013, has now run for over 100 episodes and Mark Williams, who plays Father Brown, said: “We broadcast the 12th series of Father Brown this January, which means we have made 130 episodes. I was feeling quite impressed by this, I thought there can’t have been many people who’ve played the eponymous character in a series for 130 shows. Then I read about Jack Warner who played Dixon of Dock Green 432 times, so that took the wind out of my sails a bit.

“Making 12 series of Father Brown has enriched my life immeasurably. There have been many friendships made and we have quite a few children born during our time filming to cast and crew which makes us a real tribe. And I give thanks to G K Chesterton’s creation because Father Brown has kept me fascinated.”