Gavin And Stacey star Laura Aikman was ‘hidden away’ in a separate hotel and didn’t even tell her parents that her character Sonia was making a shock return to the BBC show.
Fans were on the edge of their seats when Smithy’s girlfriend was revealed as his bride-to-be, instead of Nessa.
And it seems she really did take the NDA seriously as Laura’s family only discovered she was returning to the sitcom while watching the highly-anticipated finale on Christmas Day.
Taking to Instagram on Thursday, the actress shared a clip of the moment the huge surprise was unveiled to her unsuspecting parents.
She wrote: ‘The moment my family realise Sonia is ruining Christmas again…’ alongside the hilarious video.
Her mum’s mouth flew open as she sat up and pointed at the screen, before she screamed: ‘Oh my God! What?! You never told us!’
Unable to contain her laughter, Laura argued: ‘We never told anyone!’ while the rest of her family continued to scream with surprise in the background.
Laura added in the caption: ‘I take an NDA very seriously #gavinandstaceythefinale #gavinandstacey.’
Gavin And Stacey director Christine Gernon also took to Instagram after the finale aired to reveal the extent of the extreme measures taken to her comeback secret under wraps.
Sharing a snap of Laura alongside Alison Steadman, who portrays Pam in the BBC show, the director quipped: ‘@lauraikman spent the whole g&s shoot being hidden away.
‘Staying in a different hotel, not allowed to come to wrap or screening parties so no one knew Sonia was back. Such a great reveal. And she’s amazing as both actor and person.’
The Christmas special and finale came five years after the show’s last Christmas instalment in 2019.
While most fans were excited to see beloved characters including Smithy, Nessa, Gavin, Stacey, Uncle Bryn and Pam return – Sonia’s was one face viewers weren’t so excited to see.
In the previous episode, filmed half a decade ago, fans were left on the edge of their seats waiting to see what Smithy, played by James Corden , would say to Nessa (Ruth Jones) after she got down on one knee.
Fans were devastated after Sonia was unveiled as Smithy’s bride-to-be and took to social media to share their thoughts.
Viewers wrote: ‘I heard the whole UK Gasp.’ while others said: ‘Just started watching #GavinAndStacey…WTF. Smithy is marrying SONIA?!’.
Many were upset about the return of Sonia and didn’t hold back on X, writing: ‘The whole UK when smithy walks into the office and see Sonia’ and ‘gotta deal with the insufferable sonia on gavin and stacey AGAIN?!’.
Another fan commented: ‘GET OUT OF HERE SONIA COMMEEE ONNNNN’ and one person revealed it nearly ruined their Christmas, writing: ‘early choked on my left over christmas dinner when i saw it was sonia and not nessa, smithy was marrying’.
And one chimed in with Stacey, played by Joanna Page, writing: ‘ou’re right Stacey. Sonia is just not right for Smithy’.
And others agreed, posting on X: ‘No.. no.. this is all wrong. Smithy & Sonia aren’t meant to be together’.
Gavin and Stacey: The Finale drew in a whopping 12.5 million viewers to become the most watched show on Christmas Day.
Viewers had been waiting for five years to learn the fate of the BBC sitcom’s beloved characters and see if Smithy had accepted Nessa’s proposal.
The final episode was hailed ‘perfect’ by viewers, who were left in tears as the long-running show finally aired its last episode after 17 years.
While fans tuned into the episode to see whether Smithy had accepted Nessa’s proposal from the 2019 Christmas Special, a five-year time jump revealed that he was indeed set to tie the knot, but all was not as it seemed.
It was revealed that Smithy had instead got engaged to his girlfriend Sonia, who failed to impress the Shipman/West clan when she met them in the last festive episode.
Fans were also treated to the surprise return of Sheridan Smith as Smithy’s sister Rudi, and Pam Ferris as his mum Cath.
Yet when it came to Smithy’s big day he realised that Nessa was his one true love and called off the wedding.
The entire family jumped into Dave’s coach and rushed to Southampton, where Nessa was preparing to set sail, and in a scene 17 years in the making, he declared his love for her, and asked her to reconsider leaving.
While an ever-stoic Nessa insisted she wouldn’t propose to Smithy again, instead he returned her offer from five years earlier, finally getting down on one knee and asking her to marry him.
The episode then cut to Smithy and Nessa exchanging their vows at long last in an intimate ceremony in Barry, with the series ending with an emotional montage of the family marking the occasion at The Dolphin pub, before posing for a family snap together.
It was a finale that brought a long-awaited end to the story that began back in 2007, and fans rushed to social media to praise the ‘perfect’ ending.
Taking to Twitter they wrote: ‘What an ending, my heart feels full’;
‘NESSA AND SMITHY FINALLY!!!! The nation rejoices’; ‘last 15 mins were pure CINEMA. perfect end’;
‘Up there with one of the best TV finales of all time. Credit where it’s due to James and Ruth for making us care so much about these characters for 17 YEARS! Take a bow.’;
‘Might be the best ending to a comedy show ever. What a brilliant send off for all the characters. Ruth and James never lost their touch. Funny, emotional and brimming with whit. Amazing’;
‘Gavin and Stacey finale was what I’ve needed, the closure I feel is IMENSE’;
‘@JKCorden that was perfect. To you and Ruth, you’ve created a story I’ve grown up with. The perfect end. Thank you Merry Christmas’;
‘So beautiful. So perfect. So special. The end’; ‘That was actually perfection. From top to bottom, proper tidy.’
Another joked: ‘This is making me wanna text my ex and tell them I still love them’.
Ahead of the episode’s broadcast, creators Ruth and James revealed that their final day of filming was also the last scene that viewers watched, making it an emotional day for the entire cast.
Speaking at a Q&A following the premiere last week, James said: ‘The first schedule of the show had us finishing, I think it was going to be me on my own in a car on a low loader and and Ruth and I were like ”that can’t be the last day!”
‘And I think that’s the only time we’ve gone ”we’d like to have a say in the schedule here,” and it was all to do with people’s dates…
‘This is a massive cast who are all very busy and have different things to do and have juggled a lot of things around to do it, but we really, really felt that the last day should be the last scene and that the last line should be the last thing that we ever shoot.
Ruth added: ‘If you look at the script, it’s just the montage isn’t it? And so we had a whole day, it was quite a luxury because normally, you’re watching the clock and you’re up against it and you’ve got to get in wrap.
‘And we were so blessed that everyone in production made this happen so that we could have the luxury of having a final day where everybody was there and that all we had to do, we didn’t really have any lines!
‘It was lovely because it did feel like a real wedding, didn’t it? Like a real wedding to sort of pub reception and we were very grateful to being indulged, for being able to do that because it made such a world of difference that we did that last shot.
‘And then Chris, when she called cut on the very last take, arranged for the sound department to play [Run by Stephen Fretwell, the show’s theme] and that got us all going.’
James added: ‘It was probably the most emotional film set I’ve been on, and it was kind of wonderful, so many of our crew have been with us from the start and so it’s a wonderful way to close it all out on a Monday in Barry.’
Discussing the show’s long-awaited dockside proposal, James and Ruth added that it was huge feat to keep the scene a closely guarded secret, with the entire moment originally set to take place at Cardiff Airport, before a member of the crew came up with an alternative after they failed to get permission.
The cast admitted that filming the show’s last ever episode was emotional for all, with James breaking down in tears as they reflected on their time on the show.
Ruth added: ‘I’m not going to lie, I’m feeling a bit drained. It was so lovely to watch it with an audience, mainly made up of people who worked on the show.
‘I hope we did you proud and it’s just lovely to hear all the reactions, because of course, you know when you’re watching it and we’ve seen it several times, so for people to watch it for the first time to hear that very initial response was just gorgeous.’
