James Corden fought back tears on The Graham Norton Show on Friday as he discussed the very last line of the Gavin and Stacey finale.
On the BBC One talk show episode that aired on Friday, the comedian, aged 46, and his co-star Ruth Jones, aged 58, appeared alongside host Graham Norton, aged 61. They engaged in a conversation about their upcoming Christmas special and shared their heartwarming intentions for Christmas Day.
Sharing the red sofa with them were Timothée Chalamet, aged 28, Colman Domingo, aged 55, and Andrew Garfield, aged 41, who also discussed their recent projects and experiences.
Towards the end of the show, Graham turned to James, who plays Smithy in the BBC sitcom, to ask him what filming the end of the show was like.
During the show, one of the topics raised was the emotional aspect of wrapping up a project. Norton inquired about their feelings towards the conclusion, asking whether it was a tearful farewell or if the realization of it being over would sink in later.
Reminiscing on the last day of filming, James looked emotional, and without spoiling the ending for fans he replied: ‘It was a very very special day, we really kind of scheduled the show so that the very last line that we’ll ever hear in the episode is the last thing we shot.’
He joked: ‘Which anyone will tell you is so rare that you ever do. Normally your last day you’re out on a motorway on your own in a car and people go “well done” and you go “bye then”.’
‘But we really felt like we wanted everybody to be there at the very very end and it was just a lot of tears.’
He also playfully joked about how his co-star Joanna Page, 47, couldn’t contain her emotions on set during their last six weeks of filming.
He added: ‘There was lots of people crying, Joanna Page, she plays Stacey, basically cried every day.’
‘You know anytime that you might want to feel like oh I’m just enjoying us being together, Joanna would come up and go “oh my god can you believe this is the last time we’re ever gonna be at Gwen’s”,’
“I just realised it’s the last time I’m ever gonna wear Stacey’s shoes”, “Oh my god are you gonna cry when they call wrap.” And that was basically it for six weeks, but It’s been a lot of goodbyes.’
He also mentioned how they had a special screening of the finale earlier this week and there were ‘lots of tears’.
He said: ‘We had a screening two days ago, which is the first time anybody has seen it, and that was a lot of tears, and it’s been a very very emotional thing to do really.’
Graham proceed to end the interview by asking the pair whether or not they plan to watch the episode over the Christmas period, he said: ‘Are the two of you going to watch it on Christmas Day?’
Ruth then revealed that she and James plan to watch the finale together on Christmas Day with their loved ones.
She said: ‘Yeah we’re going to watch it together’ as James chimed in: ‘With our families, it’s how we watched the last one.’
The critically acclaimed series follows the lives of titular characters Gavin from Essex and Stacey from South Wales, documenting key points in their long-distance relationship and events that bring the two families together.
Gavin and Stacey first aired on BBC Three in 2007 and spanned 20 episodes over the course of three series.
As well as James and Ruth, it turned Mathew Horne, 46, and Joanna into household names.
The ‘last ever’ instalment will air in a 90-minute special on Christmas Day this year after fans of the show begged for an end to the story.
It comes after James and Ruth revealed Gavin & Stacey fans will be treated to a lot more Smithy and Nessa in the final episode, musing that their characters’ ‘messy’ relationship is the beating heart of the BBC show.
Appearing on the podcast Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware, the actors and writing partners teased the Christmas special, spilling that fans will find out a lot more about Ruth’s character Nessa’s past as well as her future with Smithy.
‘Nessa has had this unbelievable checkered life and you find out more about that in this special — some really fun bits that we wrote,’ James explained.
He mused that the reason fans have taken Smithy and Nessa to their hearts is because ‘on TV or films, you very rarely see people that look like Ruth and I fall in love.’
‘You just don’t. I’d be dropping off a TV to Hugh Grant in Bridget Jones and Ruth’s like working on a newsstand when someone buys a newspaper.’
‘What I like about the show is that it’s so messy and complicated and they just clearly have fantastic sex. I really enjoy that confidence.’
Ruth added though that in the early days, the writer’s partners were unsure how to pitch the unique relationship, explaining: ‘The first time they had sex was in the very first episode and I think because we didn’t quite know what the show was we were probably being quite sitcom about it.’
‘We were there, just the two of us, on that road that had meant so much to us and I just, as Ruth, was looking at my dear friend James and when I said ‘I loved you with all my heart’ I was saying it to you [James],’ Ruth recalled.
Despite the pair now promising the upcoming special actually is the finale, there’s been a flurry of fan speculation that there could be more to come.
James is adamant though that this is it, giving an ominous warning to viewers as he said: ‘It can’t carry on. When you’ll see it, you’ll know.’
Gavin and Stacey: The Finale will air on Christmas Day at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
