James Corden has shared an update on the upcoming Gavin & Stacey Christmas special.
Earlier this year, James and his co-writer Ruth Jones revealed plans to put together one last episode of the award-winning sitcom, after the 2019 reunion special ended on a cliffhanger that had millions of fans gripped.
With production set to begin in the not-too-distant future, the former Late, Late Show host told Capital Breakfast that he and Ruth are now racing against the clock to get their final script finished.
“It’s written right but now we’re doing rewrites,” he explained. “So we have to remove some time, we have to change some bits around. So we’ve been doing that.
“It’s quite tough because Ruth’s in Sister Act over in the West End at the minute, and I’m doing The Constituent at the Old Vic. So we’ve been doing quite a bit of writing in dressing rooms and things like that. And then both looking at each other being quite tired from the plays… but we’ll be back at it tomorrow. Back at it Friday. I hope by Friday… it will be done and finished this Friday.
“[Friday is] the deadline we’ve set ourselves, because we start shooting pretty soon now. It’s not far away now.”
Elsewhere in the interview, James was asked if the special would clear up the mystery about what went on between Gavin & Stacey characters Uncle Bryn and his nephew Jason on their infamous “fishing trip”, something the Bafta winner previously claimed he’d never do.
“People keep asking me, [but] I don’t know what happened,” James insisted. “I don’t know what happens. Now you might find out on Christmas Day… we’re going to wrap up a lot of loose ends.”
And while James was tight-lipped about exactly what the special would entail, he was impressed by Chris Stark’s suggestion that they include a scene where Uncle Bryn is obsessed with air fryers.
“That’s really funny!” he said. “That isn’t in the script, but there’s a real strong chance that it could be. Because that is such a funny idea – I hadn’t even thought about that.
“Because he would be, you’re absolutely right. He’d cook everything in an air fryer. And he wouldn’t stop talking about it. You’re completely right. Everything.”
The BBC’s Director of Comedy, Jon Petrie revealed last month that James and Ruth are taking extreme measures to stop anything they’ve written in their draft script making it out into the world.
News of the upcoming festive special was reported in the press weeks before they actually announced it, with Ruth making no secret of her upset about this leak.
She admitted in May: “I wanted to give everybody a nice surprise and I think it was really mean that they leaked it.”
Listen to Capital Breakfast with Jordan North, Chris and Sian every weekday from 6am across the UK and on Global Player.