Gavin and Stacey actress Ruth Jones set to reprise role as Nessa just days after final episode aired
It was only a few days ago that 12 million viewers watched the last ever episode of Gavin and Stacey, but Ruth Jones is already reprising her role as Nessa Jenkins.
The actress will don Nessa’s signature black bob wig and leather skirt to read Radio 4’s Shipping Forecast as the program celebrates its centenary on the BBC on New Year’s Day.
Mrs Jones, 58, said: ‘Nessa has quite a colorful history and one of her jobs was on the high seas. The Shipping Forecast was always very important and useful to her.’
During the final episode of Gavin And Stacey this year, Smithy, played by James Corden, 46, stopped Nessa from returning to work on the ships by racing to Southampton Dock.
He asked Welsh Nessa to marry him and the final scene featured a heartwarming montage of their wedding and the couple finally getting their happily ever after.
The episode received the highest Christmas viewing figures since 2008, with an average audience of 12.3 million people.
It marks the first time a Gavin and Stacey character has returned, despite Mr Corden and Ms Jones vowing not to write another episode of the hit comedy.
However, there is a new documentary about the programme, entitled Gavin and Stacey: A Fond Farewell, which will be broadcast on New Year’s Day at 7pm.
Ruth Jones will reprise her role as Nessa Jenkins in Gavin and Stacey
It marks the first time a Gavin and Stacey character has returned, despite Mr Corden and Ms Jones vowing not to write another episode of the hit comedy.
The cast of Gavin and Stacey: The Finale, airing on Christmas Day. The episode received the highest Christmas viewing figures since 2008, with an average audience of 12.3 million
The creative duo also have a book about the show coming out next fall, called When Gavin Met Stacey and Everything in Between: A Story Of Love And Friendship.
Despite ruling out a return to the series, Corden has said he wants to work with Jones again.
He said, “We don’t know if we have another idea in us, but I can honestly say that if we didn’t try to even explore the idea of writing together, I would be so disappointed.”
Actors Julie Hesmondhalgh, Stephen Fry and Line Of Duty’s Adrian Dunbar, and sailor Dame Ellen MacArthur are also among those who marked the first broadcast of the Met Office’s forecast on the BBC in October 1925.
The famous faces will stop by throughout the day to share historical ship predictions and their personal memories.
Radio 4 controller Mohit Bakaya said: ‘The Shipping Forecast is one of our national treasures. I am therefore very pleased that we are cracking a bottle to launch 100 years of Shipping Forecast on the BBC with a special program on New Year’s Day.’
The Shipping Forecast is drawn up by the Metbureau on behalf of the Maritime Service and Coast Guard.
This year marked its centenary, after it was first heard on January 1, 1924, in a weather bulletin called Weather Shipping.
A year later it moved to the BBC.