In 2000, when Ruth Jones and James Corden crossed paths for the first time, neither could have foreseen the creation of a record-breaking television series spanning 22 episodes.
During the filming of Fat Friends at the Crowne Plaza in Leeds, the pair struck up an unlikely friendship.
Their collaborative book, “When Gavin Met Stacey,” now offers insights into the origins of an iconic scene sparked by a disagreement, as well as a discarded plot involving Gavin’s potential infidelity.
The book delves into themes of love and friendship, revealing the following key takeaways:
For years, the infamous fishing trip involving Bryn and his nephew Jason has been a source of secrecy and intense speculation.
In the series finale, Gwen’s line, “Their trip 30 years ago almost tore this family apart,” reignited the mystery surrounding the event.
Details remain sparse, with only hints that they were on their knees, the weather was freezing, and whatever transpired was “completely legal in this country.”
While viewers caught a glimpse into their escapades, the truth, in true Gavin and Stacey fashion, remained elusive.
However, Jones and Corden revealed at a promotional event for their new book that a scene exploring the mystery was indeed filmed.
The scene depicted Bryn discovering a camcorder tape labeled “The Fishing Trip” while tidying his home.
Jason enters, visibly stunned, questioning Bryn about the tape’s existence and requesting to watch it, a request Bryn denies.
Jones and Corden explained that the intention was for the tape to play, building anticipation for the reveal, only for the footage to abruptly cut out due to technical difficulties.
Ultimately, the scene was cut due to time constraints, leaving the secret safely guarded by Bryn, Jason, and Dave Coaches.
As for the actual events of the fishing trip? Jones admitted, “I have completely stolen James’s idea for the answer to what happened on the fishing trip. I say ‘I don’t know because I wasn’t there’.”
Corden described an “Easter egg row,” with Jones recalling the details as “a little bit vague.” She was traveling from Cardiff for a writing session in London, where she was scheduled to meet Corden.
Jones recounted receiving a script idea from James Thornton, Joanna Page’s husband, a few days prior, and he asked if she would mind reading it.
“So I texted back to say, ‘Oh yes, by all means send me the script and I’ll have a look. Don’t know if I can help but I’m happy to have a look’.”
She continued that instead of sending the text to James Thornton she sent it to Corden, and messaged him saying “Sorry that wasn’t meant for you”.
Corden asked who was it for?
“And I don’t know what possessed me, but I just went ‘Oh it doesn’t matter, I cant tell you about it’. And for some bizarre reason you went, ‘Oh my god, are you doing Doctor Who?’ and I said ‘I’m sorry I cant tell you because I’ve signed a confidentiality clause.”
Jones said Corden was furious with her.
“I was basically playing a joke on you, which I rarely do because I’m not really a wind up merchant,” adding that Corden is.
She adds she was enjoying teasing Corden, but then he took it badly and said “just forget it, I’m going to Benidorm”.
Jones said she was really cross, but the pair made up in the hotel bar, and Jones told Corden she was just winding him up, and they went across the road and bought some Easter eggs.
Corden said they bought two giant Cadbury’s Easter eggs, and lay on the hotel bed, opened them and laid there with chocolate eggs on their faces.
“It was shortly after that we wrote Dawn and Pete’s vows, when she changes the words to lyrics of Michael Jackson’s ‘Ben’.
Jones added: “We had a sugar rush, had a sugar low, fell asleep woke up and wrote the vows scene.
“I remember getting really hysterical writing it. It was absolutely joyous, it was magic.”
Corden really loves the Stephen Fretwell album Magpie and for a long time they thought about having a piece of written score as the theme.
Corden says: “A few different people like David Arnold wrote pieces, and wrote one piece with a Welsh harp, it was beautiful but didn’t feel right.
“I kept saying how I really love that drum sound and the piano chords on the Stephen Fretwell song Run.”
Corden continues that the The Office and The Royale Family inspired them, with both shows having simple title sequences, but Gavin and Stacey couldn’t afford one.
“We went with a black card with white writing and I wouldn’t change it for the world, and I kept saying ‘let’s have something that feels a bit like Run’ and then in the end it was like ‘what if it’s that’,” adding that on some level the lyrics in the song feel like Nessa and Smithy’s relationship.
During the London event, the co-creators of the BBC show also met Fretwell for the first time, where he confessed he has initially told his agent he didn’t want his song used for the programme.
Jones reveals it was Corden’s wife Jules inviting her to Mexico for his 40th that clinched the 2019 special happening.
Corden said as soon as Jones walked in he burst into tears and was so “unbelievably happy to see you”.
He says they had the “best weekend” adding the couple had always laughed about the fact that Jones had sung Wild Thing at her wedding after a few drinks, and one of his greatest regrets was he wasn’t there because they didn’t know each other.
At Corden’s 40th, Jones got up and sang Wild Thing, improvising the lyrics to make them specific to Corden.
“I just remember singing and seeing your face. The joy on your face,” she says.
Corden adds: “Harry Styles was going to you ‘I cant believe you just did that’,” with Jones saying: “Yeah he looked a bit in shock, I don’t know if it was in a good way or bad way’.”
During the trip Corden suggested it “might be time” to do more Gavin and Stacey.
“I came back from the Mexico trip in 2018 thinking ‘right, lets do this’,” Jones says.
As they were writing the 2019 finale, they had the idea of doing two specials, with one being a secret and storyline ideas including Gavin having an affair.
“So the first would air on Christmas Day and the second on New Year’s Day, we even thought that the BBC could put something fake in the listings,” Corden says.
But the task was a “big challenge” because of the 10-year gap, and the pair thought it would not work.
The pair reveal that in August 2023 they started talking about doing one more, potentially a film to be released in cinemas – but changed their minds.
Corden says: “The fact is they’ve always been in the corner of your room and that is where they should remain.”
Jones adds: “When we started the show 20 years ago the idea it would be one of those shows that had a Christmas special was far beyond anything we hever dreamed of.
“Just the notion of BBC One on Christmas Day. That means so much to us.”
Corden says they wrote with the same freedom they always had and didn’t tell the BBC until they had written 65 pages.
The pair added they originally thought the 2019 special would be the ending, had it not had the cliffhanger.
“We knew it our hearts that the absolute had to be that Smithy and Nessa finally got together. Got married.”
Corden says without Jones passion for Gavin and Stacey he would have let the idea go by the wayside.
He says: “When I think about Gavin and Stacey I think about the word friend and what it means.
“I got to make this show with somebody who knows me better than I know myself… I just don’t think I’ll have a friendship like it again in my life.”
But what next?
They’re working on something new, and seeing where they go with it.
“Nothing may come of it. That’s always a possibility. But I love it,” says Jones.
Alan Carr continues to worry the nation in the second instalment of this instant-hit celebrity spin-off.
How much attention did you pay to what happened in the world over the past seven days?
The director general says the corporation is “aware of the concerns” around Israel’s participation.
Linda Rands from Hitchin responds to “cheeky” reference by one of the new celebrity traitors.
The writer returns with a show about a female rock band, and the “middle squeeze” on midlife women.