Gavin & Stacey star Mathew Horne has spoken out about rumours that he and former collaborator James Corden fell out with one another after the sitcom’s original ending.
After growing close during the making of Gavin & Stacey, in which they played best mates Gavin and Smithy, the pair embarked on a variety of different project.
This included a short-lived sketch show, a polarising hosting stint at the 2009 Brit Awards and the much-derided movie Lesbian Vampire Killers.
After this, the two brought an end to their professional relationship, and began to drift apart when James was spending more time across the pond for work.
However, despite rumours to the contrary, Mathew has insisted there was never a point they weren’t on speaking terms.
“This notion of us falling out in 2009 — it wasn’t true, but I couldn’t really do anything about it. Because James then went off to the States, that was the narrative and however much I said that we didn’t fall out, no amount of protesting would have convinced people that it didn’t happen,” he insisted to The Times.
Mathew even stuck up for James insisting that “the root of all the flak that he takes – and it’s beyond flak – is jealousy”.
“He is a phenomenally gifted actor and writer, and a brilliant working-class success story,” he said. “So yeah, I am protective of him. But I think I’ve been silenced in discussing him because of this narrative that’s been imposed.”
In 2016, three years before the last Gavin & Stacey special, Mat insisted to The Mirror: “James remains a friend and never wasn’t a friend. We have remained friends ever since we met.”
James was also asked about the fall-out rumours during a 2011 interview on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories.
“We never fell out, that was never what it was,” the Late, Late Show host claimed. “We had such an intense love for each other, we were one person for a long time – and we had the best time.
“The truth is, these things that were offered to us – the sketch show, the film, hosting the Brits with Kylie Minogue – we just rushed into them… and if I have one regret, it’s that we rushed those things.
“We were riding this amazing wave, and then when it stops, the people that you anchor to are the people that have known you the longest. And once we decided not to make another series of our show, that was a very definite decision of, ‘we’re not going to be spending every day together’. I think we counted in one year, we spent 263 days of the year together.”
“I love him,” he added. “We talk occasionally. I still hope one day we could do something together again.”
Mat and Gavin will share the screen once again in the feature-length finale of Gavin & Stacey, which is due to air on Christmas Day.
During his interview with The Times, the former Catherine Tate Show star claimed that he and James are hoping to work together on a play in the future, “but we don’t know which one” just yet.