Like seeing old friends again, this was a heart warming Christmas reunion.
Gavin & Stacey is one of our most beloved, and my personal favourite, sitcoms in British history, and it ended over 10 years ago with a truly satisfying finale. Therefore it has been long assumed they would never make another, but James Corden has flown over from his swanky LA life and we are back again.
While this special doesn’t contain as many laugh out loud moments as we’ve come to expect from the show, and it looked jarring with such HD cameras, what we did get was a warm, kind hearted, funny, and nostalgic Christmas treat.
It felt like a natural continuation of where these people would be and all actors were on top form, with Rob Brydon absolutely stealing the show. Moments like the karaoke in the Dolphin and Smithy’s posh persona were great, as were the natural extension of Gavin and Stacey’s relationship, the tribute to Doris, Pam and Mick getting high, and Dawn and Pete being their usual scene stealing selves.
This wasn’t a laugh riot but it was amusing and truly heartwarming to share with your family on this Christmas Day. And we have a huge cliffhanger that surely means we will get a follow up episode next Christmas once the huge viewing figures roll in?
Long live Barry Island…
Rating = 4/5
Howe's World of Film and TV 