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Gavin & Stacey

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Gavin & Stacey
File:Gavin & Stacey DVD BBC.jpg
StarringMathew Horne
Joanna Page
Ruth Jones
James Corden
Alison Steadman
Larry Lamb
Melanie Walters
Rob Brydon
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of series2
No. of episodes13 (List of episodes) (as of Series 2 finale)
Production
Running time30 mins
Original release
NetworkBBC Three
Release13 May 2007 –
Present

Gavin & Stacey is a BAFTA award winning[1] British sitcom originally aired on BBC Three and later shown on BBC Two, written by and starring Ruth Jones and James Corden and produced by Baby Cow Productions. Gavin is played by Mathew Horne and Joanna Page plays Stacey. The first series comprises six episodes, and chronicled the two leads' developing romance. Although the series is set in Billericay, Essex and Barry, Vale of Glamorgan the two series were shot largely in Barry and the surrounding area, including Barry Island, Dinas Powys, Penarth and Cardiff. The second series comprises seven episodes and began with two consecutive episodes, on 16 March 2008 on BBC Three.[2]. It was shown each Sunday evening until 20 April 2008. Each episode was repeated on BBC Three later on in the week.

Characters

Main Characters

  • Gavin Shipman (Mathew Horne) - Gavin is 29 (Smithy refers to them meeting in infant school, at the age of 4, in 1983). He lives with his mother and father in Billericay, Essex, England. His best friend Smithy lives just down the road. Gavin plans to try to drink a pint of every beer in the world with Smithy. Gavin supports Tottenham Hotspur F.C. and is seen wearing his Spurs shirt in many episodes.
  • Stacey Shipman (née West) (Joanna Page) - Stacey is 26 and is from Barry, South Wales until her marriage. Her father, Trevor, died three years ago. She lived at home with her mother in Barry until her marriage. She has been engaged 6 times but only married once.
  • Neil "Smithy" Smith (James Corden) - Smithy is Gavin's best friend and they've known each other since primary school. He loves Gavin's parents more than his own, who are never seen in the show. He had an unseen girlfriend called Lucy, who according to Smithy is seventeen years old. He loves unusual beer, paintball and West Ham United. When Nessa gives birth to their son they name him Neil after himself and Nessa's father.
  • Vanessa "Nessa" Shanessa Jenkins (Ruth Jones) - Nessa is Stacey's best friend, Barry born and bred. She discovers she is pregnant in the final episode of series 1 and it is later revealed that Smithy is the father. She has several tattoos and is a chain smoker (until her pregnancy). Nessa has many a notch on her bed post. She works at the Barry Island Amusement Arcades or "The Slots". Nessa regularly recalls strange and often lewd experiences with celebrities (John Prescott is mentioned several times, as is Dodi Al-Fayed), and to a lesser extent she often talks about various life experiences she has had such as travelling the world on a cruise ship and dealing with the death of her first husband. She gives birth to Baby Neil in the Series Finale of Series 2.
  • Pamela "Pam" Andrea Shipman (Alison Steadman) — Pam is Gavin's proud and doting mother. She is in her early fifties, typical of the Essex wife stereotype and is very house-proud. She is also very caring of Smithy, Gavin's best friend, and treats him as if he were her own son. Pam wrongly believed that Stacey's family were vegetarian so she pretended to be vegetarian also. She secretly started eating meat while keeping the lie. Stacey caught Pam eating a slice of ham and Pam swore her to secrecy. Pamela adores The Duchess of Cornwall and never misses an opportunity to mention her. She hates Diana, Princess of Wales.
  • Michael "Mick" Shipman (Larry Lamb) - Mick is Gavin's father. He is in his mid fifties and a down-to-earth guy, like his son. He's happy with his life - running his own company, playing golf and going to the pub quiz every Tuesday.
  • Gwen West (Melanie Walters) - Gwen is Stacey's mother. She is a widow in her late forties. She is a housewife and regularly offers to cook omelettes.
  • Bryn West (Rob Brydon) - Bryn is Stacey's and Jason's uncle. He is the brother to Stacey's deceased father. He is single, unemployed and in his late forties. He lives across the road from Gwen and Stacey and is very protective of them. Bryn has a strained relationship with his nephew Jason due to an unspecified incident on a fishing trip. In Series 2 Bryn often inadvertently makes comments suggesting he may have homosexual leanings. He is a simple man who leads a very simple life and often gets excited about trivial things, in one episode he says, "I can't wait for this wedding fair, last night I was so excited I was awake until half ten".

Other Characters

  • Jason West (Robert Wilfort) - Stacey's elder brother, son to Gwen and her late husband Trevor. Lives in Spain with his boyfriend José.
  • Dawn (Julia Davis) and Pete (Adrian Scarborough) - Friends of Pam and Mick Shipman. They have a very strained marriage and regularly insult each other in public.
  • Doris (Margaret John) - Gwen's next door neighbour. Doris spotted the unfortunate coincidence of sharing the West and Shipman surnames with serial murderers Fred / Rose West and Harold Shipman. She has also offered herself up to Gavin for 'discreet' extra-marital relations.
  • Gruff (Alan David) - Doris' partner
  • Fingers (Samuel Anderson); Dirtbox (Andrew Knott); Budgie (Russell Tovey); Chinese Alan (Dominic Gaskell) - Gavin's friends. Anderson, Knott and Tovey all appeared in the original production of The History Boys together with James Corden.
  • Louise (Ffion Williams) Lowri (Catherine Evans); Ros (Trudi Jackson) - Stacey's friends
  • Achmed (Paul Sharma) - One of Stacey's 5 former fiancés.
  • Jammy (Matt Lucas) - Cameo appearance as stag party planner
  • Dick Powell - The only exclusively Welsh-speaking inhabitant of Barry. Sells satellite navigation systems and enjoys Glamorgan sausage sandwiches
  • Ruth "Rudi" Smith (Sheridan Smith) - Smithy's sister, likes to be also called Smithy trying to imitate her brother.
  • David "Dave" 'Coaches' (Steffan Rhodri) - Bus driver in Barry and on/off partner of Nessa
  • Duncan - (Marc Wootton) - Cameo appearance as estate agent who shows Gavin and Stacey around a flat.
  • Seth - Man met by Dawn and Pete on the internet in an attempt to "spice up" their relationship.
  • Susan "Big Fat Sue" - friend of Pam
  • Baby Neil - Nessa & Smithy's baby, named after Nessa's father and Smithy's actual name.
  • Fat-no-more Pat - friend of Pam

Unseen Characters

  • Gary and Simon - supposedly Gavin and Smithy's best friends, however they never appear, not even at Gavin's wedding.
  • Trevor West - Stacey's deceased father
  • Lucy - Smithy's 17 year old ex-girlfriend
  • Cath - Smithy's mother
  • Jean - Gwen's enemy
  • Neil (Smith) - Smithy's father
  • Neil (Jenkins) - Nessa's father
  • Carol Powell - Dick Powell's daughter and Nessa's once best friend although she hasn't seen her since 1982.
  • No man Jan - friend of Pam
  • Japanese Margaret - friend of Pam
  • Other Margaret - friend of Pam
  • Jill Thomas - Vet

Awards

Gavin & Stacey has won 5 awards out of 9 nominations in total. Two of which being won at the British Academy Television Awards 2008[3].

Awards & Nominations:

Date Awards Ceremony Award Category Nominee
Sunday 20th April 2008 British Academy Television Awards 2008 Best Comedy Performance James Corden (Smithy) Award Won
Sunday 20th April 2008 British Academy Television Awards 2008 Sky+ Audience Award Gavin & Stacey Award Won
Wednesday 5th December 2007 British Comedy Awards 2007 Best New British TV Comedy Gavin & Stacey Award Won
Wednesday 5th December 2007 British Comedy Awards 2007 Best Male Comedy Newcomer James Corden (Smithy) Award Won
Wednesday 5th December 2007 British Comedy Awards 2007 Best Female Comedy Newcomer Ruth Jones (Nessa) Award Won
Wednesday 5th December 2007 British Comedy Awards 2007 Best New TV Comedy Gavin & Stacey
Wednesday 5th December 2007 British Comedy Awards 2007 Best TV Comedy Actress Ruth Jones (Nessa)
Wednesday 5th December 2007 British Comedy Awards 2007 Best Male Comedy Newcomer Mathew Horne (Gavin)
Wednesday 5th December 2007 British Comedy Awards 2007 Best Female Comedy Newcomer Joanna Page (Stacey)

Ratings

Episode Premiere Date Rating
Series 1 Episode 1 13 May 2007 543,000[4]
Series 1 Episode 2 13 May 2007 588,000[4]
Series 1 Episode 3 20 May 2007 550,000[5]
Series 1 Episode 4 27 May 2007 557,000[6]
Series 1 Episode 5 3 June 2007 544,000[7]
Series 1 Episode 6 10 June 2007 569,190
Series 2 Episode 1 16 March 2008 1,894,000[8]
Series 2 Episode 2 16 March 2008 1,869,000[9]
Series 2 Episode 3 23 March 2008 1,480,000[10]
Series 2 Episode 4 30 March 2008 1,799,000[11]
Series 2 Episode 5 6 April 2008 1,601,000[12]
Series 2 Episode 6 13 April 2008 1,401,000[13]
Series 2 Episode 7 20 April 2008
Christmas Special 25 December 2008 N/A


Music

The credits theme to Gavin & Stacey is "Run", by Stephen Fretwell. The music used in the trailers was "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death from Above" by Cansei de Ser Sexy. The wedding music used as the first series climax in episode 6 is Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol and in the beginning of the first episode of the second series, Razorlight's Before I Fall to Pieces was used. The last episode of the second series also featured a clip of Patrick Wolf's 'Magic Position'. Their first dance in the last episode of series one was "A Million Love Songs" by Take That. Gavin & Stacey's song is Last Request by Paolo Nutini. Snow Patrol's 'You Could Be Happy' was used in episode 6 of the second series. The final song of series 2 (the music whilst Smithy and Gavin are getting to the Hospital and Nessa is giving Birth) is Gravity by Embrace.

Series Three

James Corden, one of the writers and stars in the show, stated on the BBC Three chat show Lily Allen and Friends, that she would be allowed a part in the third series.

On 17 March 2008 Ruth Jones was interviewed by Edith Bowman on her Radio 1 show. During the interview Ruth stated that she and James Corden were about to start writing a Gavin & Stacey Christmas special.[14] This had also been confirmed by Mathew Horne in an interview with Paul O'Grady.

At the BAFTAs, James Corden said that he didn't know whether series three would be made, and that they would only write one if they thought it would be better than the first two, and had a good story to tell.

DVD Releases

Gavin & Stacey: Series One
Set Details Special Features
  • 6 Episodes
  • 1 Disc
  • 16:9 Aspect Ratio
  • Subtitles: yes (English)
  • English (Stereo)
  • 'How It Happened'
  • Outtakes
  • Behind The Scenes In Leicester Square
  • Audio Commentaries
Release Dates
 United Kingdom
29 October 2007

Overseas

NBC has announced that it plans to make an adapted version of Gavin and Stacey for the United States. In a television interview, Ruth Jones commented that the American version could have Gavin coming from New Jersey and Stacey from South Carolina.[15]

References

  1. ^ "Bafta TV Awards 2008: The winners". Retrieved 2008-04-20. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |publishder= ignored (help)
  2. ^ "Programme Information Network TV Week 12". BBC Press Office. Retrieved 2008-03-17.
  3. ^ "Bafta TV Awards 2008: The winners". Retrieved 2008-04-20. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |publishder= ignored (help)
  4. ^ a b "BARB - Weekly Viewing Summary - Multichannel Top 10 - week ending 13/05/07". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  5. ^ "BARB - Weekly Viewing Summary - Multichannel Top 10 - week ending 20/05/07". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  6. ^ "BARB - Weekly Viewing Summary - Multichannel Top 10 - week ending 27/05/07". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  7. ^ "BARB - Weekly Viewing Summary - Multichannel Top 10 - week ending 03/06/07". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  8. ^ "BARB - Weekly Viewing Summary - Multichannel Top 10 - week ending 16/03/08". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
  9. ^ "BARB - Weekly Viewing Summary - Multichannel Top 10 - week ending 16/03/08". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  10. ^ "BARB - Weekly Viewing Summary - Multichannel Top 10 - week ending 16/03/08". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  11. ^ "BARB - Weekly Viewing Summary - Multichannel Top 10 - week ending 30/03/08". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 2008-04-13.
  12. ^ "BARB - Weekly Viewing Summary - Multichannel Top 10 - week ending 06/04/08". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 2008-04-16.
  13. ^ "BARB - Weekly Viewing Summary - Multichannel Top 10 - week ending 13/04/08". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 2008-04-29.
  14. ^ Jones, Ruth (2008-03-17). "Ruth Jones interview". BBC Radio 1. Retrieved 2008-04-15.
  15. ^ Sherwin, Adam (2008-03-06). "Gavin & Stacey to be given US remake". The Times. Retrieved 2008-03-06.

Videos

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