The BBC can breathe easy into its festive leftovers, after all the hype, cross-promotion and marketing paid off – with the finale of long-running comedy Gavin and Stacey winning the UK’s top Christmas Day audience.
Overnights.TV reported that a whopping 12.3million tuned in to discover the fates of all the much-loved characters, five years after the show stopped on a cliffhanger of Nessa (Ruth Jones) proposing to Smithy (James Corden).
That 2019 outing was the top rating show of that year with an audience of 11.6million but that grew to 18million consolidated. This year’s grand finale is expected to beat that once the catch-up figures are included.
Other Christmas Day highlights from the BBC included a brand new Wallace and Gromit film, plus a festive special Doctor Who, written by former showrunner Steven Moffat.
Jones and Corden also write the series, which began in 2007, and ran for three series until 2009 – telling the story of young sweethearts Gavin from Essex in east England and Stacey from Barry in south Wales, their romance and the mingling of their two families.
As well as the writing pair, the series starred Matthew Horne and Joanna Page in the title roles, with Rob Brydon (Barbie) playing Uncle Bryn.
Jones and Corden created an ending that will please all fans, although one question was left tantalisingly unanswered – what did happen on Uncle Bryn’s fishing trip? The pair say they are now properly finished with the show, although they wish to continue working together and have mused publicly on the possibility of writing a book.