Gavin & Stacey was inspired by a real-life romance
James Corden and Ruth Jones recalled the beloved sitcom's genesis on A Fond Farewell.
What did you miss?
Gavin & Stacey's James Corden has recalled where he plucked the idea for the sitcom from.
In the New Year's Day special A Fond Farewell, which aired on BBC One immediately before the third series of The Traitors premiered, the Smithy actor spoke of a real-life mate named Gavin who met his wife in a similar way to Gavin Shipman (played by Mathew Horne on screen).
So the story goes: he and co-creator Ruth Jones fashioned a brand-new story from this premise by filtering in a subplot featuring a one-night stand between Gavin and Stacey West's friends, Smithy and Nessa, and the rest is TV history.
What, how and why?
Referring to the real Gavin, who's still close to Corden, the 46-year-old shared: "He was like, 'I'm just chatting to this girl at work and we just end up on the phone for hours' and then he said to me, 'I'm gonna meet her this weekend' and I was like, 'What?!'
"They ended up having a frivolous weekend and coming back and [he was] going 'I'm in love with her!'"
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As well as this non-fictional romance, Gavin & Stacey fans actually have the ITV series Fat Friends to thank for the Shipman, West and Sutcliffe shenanigans we've soaked up for the last two decades.
Corden also revealed in A Fond Farewell: "We actually had the idea of Gavin & Stacey when we were filming a show called Fat Friends. One weekend I went to a wedding with my girlfriend at the time, whose family were all from Barry Island, and I was just watching this wedding take place and I was thinking, 'God, all life is here...'
"Lots of these people didn't know each other but you come together because two people have fallen in love and they want to declare that love in front of all their friends and family. And I said to Ruth, 'I really think that could be a show' and then we just started talking about all these different characters and things."
What else was said on A Fond Farewell?
Whilst discussing the original TV treatment (a detailed breakdown of the whole concept) they came up with together, Jones claimed Gavin & Stacey was titled It's My Day to begin with.
"It literally was just about the wedding with lots of these little vignettes," she added.
Enter Stuart Murphy, controller of BBC Three at the time, who rejected the pair's idea of a one-hour comedy drama and instead asked Corden and Jones to "serialise the backstory" across six 30-minute episodes.
All episodes of Gavin & Stacey are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
