James Corden fights back tears while reminiscing about the emotional ‘last line’ of the Gavin & Stacey finale as he reveals sweet Christmas Day plans with co-star Ruth Jones

James Corden fought back tears on The Graham Norton Show on Friday as he discussed the very last line of the Gavin and Stacey finale.

During Friday’s episode of the BBC One chat show, the comedian, 46, and his co-star Ruth Jones, 58, joined host Graham Norton, 61, to discuss their Christmas special and reveal their sweet plans for Christmas Day.

They were also joined on the red bench by Timothée Chalamet, 28, Colman Domingo, 55, and Andrew Garfield, 41, who also spoke about their recent efforts.

Towards the end of the show, Graham turned to James, who plays Smithy in the BBC sitcom, to ask him what the filming at the end of the show was like.

He asked, ‘What was it like in the end? Did it feel like the end? Were you all crying? Was it really emotional? Or will you realize later that it’s over?’

James reminisced about the last day of filming and looked emotional, and without spoiling the ending for fans he replied: “It was a very special day, we actually planned the show so that the very last line we will ever hear in the episode is the last thing we shot.”

He joked, “What someone will tell you is so rare that you ever do that. Normally on the last day you drive alone on the highway and people say ‘well done’ and you say ‘bye’.’

“But we really felt like we wanted everyone to be there at the very end and it was just a lot of tears.”

He also playfully joked about how his co-star Joanna Page, 47, couldn’t contain her emotions on set during their final six weeks of filming.

He added: “There were a lot of people crying, Joanna Page, she plays Stacey, basically cried every day.”

“You know, any time you want to feel like, oh I’m just enjoying our time together, Joanna would come up and say, ‘Oh my god, can you believe this is the last time we’ll ever be together? Gwen’s are’,’

“I just realized this is the last time I wear Stacey’s shoes,” “Oh my god, are you going to cry when they call wrap.” And that was actually it for six weeks, but it was a lot of farewell moments.’

He also said they had a special screening of the finale earlier this week and there were “a lot of tears.”

He said: ‘Two days ago we had a screening, which was the first time anyone had seen it, and there were a lot of tears, and it was a really emotional thing to do.’

Graham ended the interview by asking the pair if they plan to watch the episode over the Christmas period. He said, “Are you going to watch it together on Christmas Day?”

Ruth then revealed that she and James plan to watch the finale with their loved ones on Christmas Day.

She said, “Yes, we’re going to watch it together,” as James interjected, “With our families, that’s how we watched the last one.”

The critically acclaimed series follows the lives of main characters Gavin from Essex and Stacey from South Wales, documenting key points in their long-distance relationship and events that bring the two families together.

Gavin and Stacey first aired on BBC Three in 2007 and ran for twenty episodes over the course of three series.

In addition to James and Ruth, Mathew Horne, 46, and Joanna became household names.

The ‘last’ ever episode will air on Christmas Day this year in a 90-minute special, after fans of the show begged for an end to the story.

It comes after James and Ruth revealed that Gavin & Stacey fans will be treated to a lot more Smithy and Nessa in the final episode, musing that their characters’ ‘messy’ relationship is the beating heart of the BBC show.

Appears on the podcast Table manners Featuring Jessie and Lennie Ware, the actors and writing partners teased the Christmas special, saying fans will learn a lot more about Ruth’s character Nessa’s past and her future with Smithy.

“Nessa has had an incredibly eventful life and you’ll find out more about that in this special – some really fun pieces we’ve written,” James explained.

He mused that the reason fans have taken Smithy and Nessa to their hearts is because ‘ohOn television or in movies you rarely see people who look like Ruth and me falling in love.’

‘You just don’t do that. I’d hand the TV off to Hugh Grant in Bridget Jones and Ruth, like working on a newsstand when someone buys a newspaper.’

‘What I love about the show is that it’s so messy and complicated and they just have fantastic sex. I really enjoy that confidence.’

However, Ruth added that the writer’s partners weren’t sure how to pitch the unique relationship at first, explaining, “The first time they had sex was in the very first episode and I think because we didn’t quite knew what the show was. we were probably doing quite a sitcom about it.”

‘We were there, just the two of us, on that road that had meant so much to us and I, like Ruth, looked at my dear friend James and when I said, ‘I loved you with all my heart’, it was me say to you [James]’, Ruth recalled.

Despite the pair now promising that the upcoming special is actually the finale, there has been a wave of speculation among fans that there could be more to come.

However, James is adamant that this is it, and gives viewers an ominous warning, saying: ‘It cannot continue. When you see it, you know it.’

Gavin and Stacey: The Finale airs on BBC One and iPlayer on Christmas Day at 9pm.