Gavin and Stacey behind-the-scenes secrets - from James Cordon's tears to 'fake' location

It was all smiles on screen filming Gavin and Stacey - but there were emotional tears away from the cameras.

The heartwarming BBC programme, which followed two families in Barry Island and Billericay, quickly won over the nation and fans were absolutely gutted when the last episode aired in 2019. But writers James Corden and Ruth Jones, who also played Smithy and Nessa in the sitcom, have finally confirmed its return.

Comedian James, 45, took to social media this morning to share a snap of the pair of them holding up a script for the new series. He wrote: "Some news... It's official!!! We have finished writing the last ever episode of Gavin and Stacey. See you on Christmas Day, BBC One. Love Ruth and James."

Here, we take a look at the behind-the-scenes secrets of Gavin and Stacey - from a co-star romance to a shocking location revelation...

Rocky co-star romance

Sheridan Smith originally joined the cast as Rudi, the sister of James' character Smithy, in 2007. In real life, she and James entered into a turbulent two-year relationship. They split in 2008 and James made it clear his mind was on singer Lily Allen, with the pair said to have enjoyed a string of dates.

"I made it my aim to make Lily mine. I guess we were friends but, for my part, I definitely wanted more than that," he said at the time. But by the following February, James was once again back with Sheridan and declared her the "love of my life".

He told the Mirror at the time: "Yes, Sheridan and I are back together and it's going brilliantly. I couldn't be happier. I want to marry my girl." Sheridan, however, appeared to have different ideas and admitted that marriage couldn't have been further from her mind.

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The actress once said: "I was a lot wilder back then. I wasn't someone who was in a frame of mind of settling down." After their final split in 2009, a "heartbroken" James started partying heavily and feared his life was spiralling out of control.

"I was heartbroken and lost," he told The Times. "I'd had a relationship with Sheridan which was heartbreaking, when you think something might work and it doesn't. And I felt a bit lost. And feeling lost, and feeling heartbroken, and feeling single for the first time in your adult life, at the very moment when you become a little bit famous, is quite a potent mix."

Tears writing scripts

James and Ruth put pen to paper in 2019 to draft a script for the Christmas special over FaceTime. But once it was finished, their hearts sank when they realised it was "absolutely awful". And during one last subdued dinner, they decided to pull the plug.

Ruth, who plays Nessa, told the Daily Mail: "When we did our first read-through it just wasn't working. We just stopped everything. It was a horrible feeling... it felt absolutely awful. We both had to admit it was over. So we sat down to dinner with our partners after making the decision to stop. Obviously, the mood wasn't great, and we had this very pedestrian conversation as we sat around the table."

But in a miraculous turnaround, that run-of-the-mill conversation suddenly inspired them and reduced James to tears. "Within two or three hours, we'd worked up that exact pedestrian conversation into this perfect Gavin and Stacey scene," she recalled.

"Then James started crying because it was a completely unexpected breakthrough and it was just perfect. I cried too. It was very emotional because somehow we'd got it back. We knew we could make it happen. And then – bang! – we were on a roll. Everything just worked and we had that spark back."

Filming confession

The much-loved Pam and Mick actors recently let slip a revelation that left fans stunned. The popular sitcom first hit screens back in 2007 and followed the love story of Gavin and Stacey navigating their lives in Essex and Wales. Gavin lived in his parent's large detached home, while Stacey lived with her widowed mother, Gwen, in a terraced house with Uncle Bryn across the road.

But, stars Larry Lamb and Alison Steadman revealed earlier this year that the cast never actually stepped foot in Essex. "Gavin & Stacey was all filmed in Wales, nobody offered us the opportunity to go to Essex," Larry admitted to Radio Times. "[Producers] said, 'Billericay's where you're from', so we just got on with it, we just do what we're told."