Joanna Page breaks silence on Gavin and Stacey’s last ever episode as she reunites with cast for Christmas special
GAVIN and Stacey star Joanna Page has broken her silence on the return of the hit BBC sitcom.
Creators Ruth Jones and James Corden confirmed the series will return for a special Christmas episode at the end of the year.
This special is the first new episode of the sitcom in five years and will be the last ever instalment of Gavin and Stacey.
Reposting James and Ruth’s joint Instagram announcement which confirmed the script has been finished, Joanna, 47, wrote: “O my god it’s happening!!! So excited!!! Last ever Gavin and Stacey! Christmas Day on BBC One. Can’t wait to start filming!!” (sic)
But the Gavin and Stacey star properly broke her silence about the upcoming show in her podcast, Off the Telly.
Off the Telly launched at the end of February and she co-hosts the BBC Sounds podcast with EastEnders alum Natalie Cassidy.
Speaking to her co-host, Joanna said she can’t wait to find out what happens next.
She admitted she doesn’t know what happens after the 2019 Christmas cliffhanger when Nessa proposed to Smithy but is looking forward to reuniting with the cast.
“I’m so excited to see the gang again and start filming, and I can’t wait to find out if Smithy has said yes. I can’t wait to find out what’s happening to everybody!” she said.
Joanna joked: “I’m going to have to keep that script away from your [Natalie’s] little paws but yeah we are going to be able to review it on our show at Christmas and I will be very cross if you aren’t sitting down on Christmas Day watching me!”
Joanna has been one of the most vocal cast members on whether or not Gavin and Stacey would return.
The Love, Actually actress previously admitted that she gets asked about it in all of her interviews.
At the end of 2023, when the finale had yet to be confirmed, she told the Daily Mail: “I can see them never doing anymore because it was nice to leave it on a cliffhanger because it’s up to the viewer to imagine what would have happened. So I can imagine them ending it like that.”
But she hadn’t completely ruled it out. “I wouldn’t be surprised if I didn’t get the call, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I did,” Joanna teased.
She just had one request to show creators Ruth and James.
“All I can say is, if they were going to do another one, I hope it’s soon because we’re all getting so old. I don’t particularly want to see Stacey get that much older,” Joanna said.
Gavin and Stacey's best moments
With the news that the show is set to make an exciting return to screens, let's take a look at some of the comedy programme's biggest and best moments...
- Smithy and Rudi’s American Boy rap – No one will ever forget when James Corden and Sheridan Smith rapped perfectly word for word the Kanye West and Estelle hit American Boy as they walked across the car park on the phone to Gavin.
- Pam’s Vegetarian faux pas – Despite loving a cheeseburger, Pam found herself caught up in a web of unexpected lies when she claimed to be Vegetarian. She is forced to keep up the secret throughout the entire show and uses hubby Mick to help her scoff meat. She is later rumbled when Stacey catches her in the act as she scoffs ham in the kitchen. Stacey says to her: “Is that ham, Pam!?… “I’ve seen you, Pam. A scotch egg here, a bit of bacon there, putting those regular sausages into the Linda McCartney box”.
- THAT fishing trip – It remains one of the biggest mysteries in Gavin and Stacey history as to just exactly what did happen on the ill-fated fishing trip. Bryn appears to be hiding a secret as to an occurrence between him and his nephew Jason which has left relations fractures. Ness’ on-off boyfriend, Dave, is the only other person to know the whole truth. Bryn did appear to allude to him and Jason lying together naked to keep warm as he said to Dave: “We’re going to have this out, once and for all, man to man, you may know what happened, David, but you don’t know why it happened! It was freezing cold, it was! And when you are that cold…”
- Islands in the Stream – No one can ever forget the classic Karaoke performance of Islands in the Stream. Nessa and Bryn performed the track in front of all their nearest and dearest. It saw the whole pub burst into some line-dancing as they enjoyed a boozy night out.
- The Xmas special proposal – In 2019, fans were left overjoyed when the show made a comeback but it ended on the ultimate cliffhanger. Nessa asked Smithy if she would marry him as she finally laid bare her feelings for him. Fans were gutted as the show then cut straight to the credits as they never found out just how Smithy answered. Will all be revealed in the brand new episode?
She then revealed the storyline she’d be most excited to see would involve her on-screen kids.
“Gavin (Matthew Horne) and Stacey’s kids would be teenagers now, so that would be quite funny to see.”
Gavin and Stacey is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.