The upcoming Gavin and Stacey Christmas special won’t be the end of the beloved comedy after creators James Corden and Ruth Jones announced they are writing a new book.
When Gavin Met Stacey and Everything Else: A Story of Love and Friendship will be published in fall 2025, sharing for the first time how the couple turned their little comedy into a full-fledged cultural phenomenon.
James, 46, and Ruth, 48, said following the announcement: “We are so excited to share the story behind Gavin and Stacey’s story.”
“The show has played a huge role in our twenty-five-year friendship and we hope this book gives readers new insight into how it all came together.”
According to the publisher, the book will feature never-before-heard stories and behind-the-scenes gossip and will see James and Ruth recount the rejection, obstacles and challenges they faced on the road to giving birth to their beloved comedy creation and also explore his own reality. -life friendship.
While their on-screen characters Nessa and Smithy had a deep awkwardness to negotiate, culminating in that marriage proposal in the 2019 Christmas special, Ruth and James forged a magical relationship of mutual support based also on a deep, shared sense of subversive fun.
The upcoming Gavin and Stacey Christmas special won’t be the end of the beloved comedy after creators James Corden, 46, and Ruth Jones, 58, announced they are writing a new book.
When Gavin Met Stacey and All Between Them: A Story of Love and Friendship will share for the first time how the couple turned their little comedy into a full-fledged cultural phenomenon.
The book will be published in October 2025.
Bill Scott-Kerr, publisher Transworld, said: “We are very excited to publish this joyful book. Seeing up close the creative chemistry between Ruth and James is an inspiration in itself and a true insight into the fission that made Gavin and Stacey the cultural phenomenon that she is.’
“It’s also inspiring to see how a friendship can translate into something that feels wonderfully universal and deeply true.”
And ahead of the sitcom’s final episode on Christmas Day, creators James and Ruth broke down in tears as they said goodbye to the show they first envisioned 20 years earlier, while attending the final premiere on Wednesday.
The pair revealed that while fans had been demanding an answer to the show’s 2019 proposal cliffhanger since it first aired, it wasn’t until last year that they decided to get together to write one last episode.
Fans were horrified when the show’s previous holiday special concluded with Nessa declaring her love for Smithy and proposing to her, but her response was not revealed.
Now, fans are hoping this upcoming 90-minute episode will finally provide an answer to that all-important question and shed some light on what happened during the famous fishing trip.
Speaking at a Q&A during the premiere of the final episode earlier this week, a tearful Ruth said: “I’m so sorry.” I’m so pathetic’ as she cried and thanked James, who she labeled ‘my traveling companion.’
They went on to share that it was in August 2023 when they first discussed the idea of writing a new episode, but the news was not shared with the nation until May of this year.
According to the publisher, the book will feature never-before-heard stories and behind-the-scenes gossip and will see James and Ruth recount the rejection, obstacles and challenges they faced.
Ruth Jones and James Corden broke down in tears as they said goodbye to the show at the premiere on Wednesday.
17 years after the BBC comedy hit screens, the show will come to an end with a 90-minute finale on Christmas Day.
Referring to Nessa’s proposal, she said: “Well, it took me a little while to get up from my knees and to be honest, I don’t think I can get down on my knees now!”
James added: “I think we both have several points where we talked about doing it, and for one reason or another, Ruth may have said, ‘I think we should do it now,’ and I said, ‘I’m not doing it.’ I don’t know. ”.
“I remember a moment where I said, ‘I really think we should do this, I think we should write it,’ and Ruth said, ‘I’m just not in the right headspace.’
‘We decided to talk last summer; Because we talk all the time as friends, it’s quite difficult when you work with your best friend all the time, because a lot of times we just talk about life things. And then I said, “let’s log in in a moment.” It was last summer, right? It was August. I said Tuesday at 4 pm, let’s do a FaceTime.
James and Ruth added that they kept their plans to try to write another episode a secret from the cast and BBC bosses, and it wasn’t until they were in the writing process that they secretly met BBC chief content officer Charlotte Moore.
“We were both in the exact same place, and we had a week in September, so we said, ‘Let’s get together then, and if there’s nothing there, if the characters don’t show us what the story is, it doesn’t matter, we haven’t told them.’ told to no one. We haven’t told the cast. We haven’t spoken to the BBC and we didn’t,” James said.
Fans were horrified when the show’s previous holiday special concluded with Nessa declaring her love for Smithy and proposing to her, but her response was not revealed.
Speaking in a Q&A during Wednesday’s premiere, Ruth and James shared that it was in August 2023 when they first discussed the idea of writing a new episode.
The 2019 Gavin and Stacey Christmas special scored huge ratings of over 12 million viewers when it first aired, and this conclusion is expected to have even bigger numbers.
“We didn’t contact Charlotte until we wrote, I think 70 pages of this special, because by then we felt like ‘we’ve got something we feel like we’re ready to share because it may sound like complete nonsense.”
‘It doesn’t really feel like we’re in charge of writing it. I feel like we just have to be together, and we open a portal and the characters come and tell us what they want everyone to know.”
The episode sees Bryn repacking her Picasso for another trip to Essex, while Stacey and Gavin look for new ways to spice up their seventeen-year marriage.
Elsewhere, Gwen’s strange behavior catches her daughter’s attention, while Neil The Baby is about to begin an apprenticeship with his father.
In Billericay, Pam is stressed at the prospect of playing hostess, without the help of a recently retired Mick practicing his golf swings in the living room, and there have been more ups and downs in Pete and Dawn’s relationship.
The 2019 Gavin and Stacey Christmas special scored huge ratings of over 12 million viewers when it first aired, and this conclusion is expected to have even bigger numbers.
When asked what the secret to the programme’s success was, James added: “Young people now see things at twice the speed at which they were intended to be formatted and they tell you that speed is important.” And here’s a show that ended 15 years ago, waited ten years to tell another hour of the story, and waited five more years to finish it.
“Actually, maybe time, patience and care can be the answer to making things have longevity beyond what we consume on our phones.”
Gavin and Stacey: The Finale will air on Christmas Day at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.