Gavin and Stacey’s upcoming Christmas special won’t be the end of the beloved sitcom after creators James Corden and Ruth Jones announced they are writing a new book.
When Gavin Met Stacey and Everything in Between: A Story Of Love And Friendship will be released in autumn 2025 and tell for the first time how the couple turned their little comedy into a full-fledged cultural phenomenon.
James, 46, and Ruth, 48, said after the announcement: “We are so excited to share the story behind Gavin and Stacey’s story.”
‘The show has played a huge role in our twenty-five year friendship and we hope this book will give readers a new insight into how it all came about.’
According to the publisher, the book will feature never-before-heard stories and behind-the-scenes gossip and will see James and Ruth recount the rejection, obstacles and challenges they faced on the way to giving birth to their beloved comedy creation and also explore their own real world . -life friendship.
While their on-screen characters, Nessa and Smithy, struggled to negotiate, culminating in that marriage proposal in the 2019 Christmas special, Ruth and James forged a magical relationship of mutual support, also based on a deep, shared sense of subversive pleasure.
Gavin and Stacey’s upcoming Christmas special won’t be the end of the beloved sitcom after creators James Corden, 46, and Ruth Jones, 58, announced they are writing a new book
When Gavin Met Stacey and Everything in Between: A Story Of Love And Friendship will reveal for the first time how the pair turned their little comedy into a full-fledged cultural phenomenon
The book will be published in October 2025
Bill Scott-Kerr from publisher Transworld said: ‘We are so excited to publish this joyful book. Seeing the creative chemistry between Ruth and James up close is an inspiration in itself and a real insight into the split that made Gavin and Stacey the cultural phenomenon that it is.”
“It’s also inspiring to see how a friendship can translate into something that feels so wonderfully universal and deeply true.”
And ahead of the sitcom’s final episode on Christmas Day, creators James and Ruth broke down in tears as they said goodbye to the show they first imagined 20 years earlier when they attended the finale premiere on Wednesday.
The pair further revealed that while fans have been demanding an answer to the show’s 2019 cliffhanger since it first aired, it wasn’t until last year that they decided to reunite to write a final episode.
Fans were stunned when the show’s previous festive special ended with Nessa declaring her love for Smithy and proposing to him, but his answer was not revealed.
Now, fans are hoping that this upcoming 90-minute episode will finally answer that all-important question, and shed some light on what happened during the famous fishing trip.
During a question-and-answer session during the premiere of the final episode earlier this week, a tearful Ruth said: “I’m really sorry. I’m so sad’ as she cried and thanked James, who she called ‘my traveling companion’.
They went on to say that they first discussed the idea of writing a new episode in August 2023, but the news wasn’t shared with the nation until May of this year.
According to the publisher, the book will feature never-before-heard stories, behind-the-scenes gossip and will feature James and Ruth opening up about the rejection, obstacles and challenges they faced.
Ruth Jones and James Corden broke down in tears as they said goodbye to the show during the premiere on Wednesday
17 years after the BBC comedy first hit screens, the show will conclude with a 90-minute finale on Christmas Day
Referring to Nessa’s proposal, she said, “Well, it took me a while to get off my knees, and to be completely honest I don’t think I could get down on one knee right now!”
James added, “I think we both have different points where we talked about it, and for some reason Ruth may have said, ‘I think we should do it now,’ and I said, ‘I’ll do it not’. Don’t know”.
“I can remember a moment where it was said, ‘I really think we should do this, I think we should write it,’ and Ruth said, ‘I just don’t feel in the right head space.’
‘Last summer we decided to speak; Since we talk like friends all the time, it’s kind of hard when you work with your best friend all the time because a lot of the time we only talk about life stuff. And then I said: ”let’s just log in”. It was last summer, wasn’t it? It was August. I said Tuesday at 4 p.m., let’s do a FaceTime.”
James and Ruth added that they kept their plans to try to write another episode a secret from the cast and BBC bosses, and it was only when they were well into the writing process that they secretly met with BBC’s Chief Content Officer Charlotte Moore .
“We were both in the exact same place, and we had a week in September, so we said, ‘Let’s get together then, and if there’s nothing there, if the characters don’t show us what the story is, then it does not. It doesn’t matter, we didn’t tell anyone. We didn’t tell the cast. We have not spoken to the BBC and we have not done so,” James said.
Fans were stunned when the show’s previous festive special ended with Nessa declaring her love for Smithy and proposing to him, but his answer was not revealed
During a Q&A during Wednesday’s premiere, Ruth and James said they first discussed the idea of writing a new episode in August 2023.
The 2019 Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special attracted huge viewing figures of over 12 million viewers when it first aired, and is expected to conclude with even bigger numbers
“We didn’t contact Charlotte until we had written, I think 70 pages of this special, because by then we felt like, ‘We have something that we think we want to share because it might be a complete story sounds. nonsense.”
“It doesn’t really feel like we’re in charge of writing it. I feel like we just need to be together, and we kind of open a portal and the characters arrive and they tell us what they want everyone to know.”
The episode sees Bryn once again pack up his Picasso for another trip to Essex, while Stacey and Gavin look for new ways to spice up their seventeen-year marriage.
Elsewhere, Gwen’s strange behavior catches her daughter’s attention, while Neil The Baby is about to become an apprentice to his father.
In Billericay, Pam is stressed at the prospect of playing hostess, not helped by newly retired Mick practicing his golf swings in the living room, and there have been more ups and downs in Pete and Dawn’s relationship.
The 2019 Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special attracted huge viewing figures of over 12 million viewers when it first aired, and this conclusion is expected to bring in even bigger numbers.
Asked the secret to the show’s success, James added: ‘Young people are now watching things at twice the speed at which it was once intended to be formatted and you are told that speed is important. And here is a show that ended fifteen years ago, waited ten years to tell another hour of the story, and waited another five years to end it.
“Maybe time, patience and care can be the answer to ensuring things have a longer lifespan beyond what we consume on our phones.”
Gavin and Stacey: The Finale airs on BBC One and iPlayer on Christmas Day at 9pm.