Gavin and Stacey fans were left wanting more after Nessa’s shock proposal to Smithy at the end of the Christmas Day special.
Smithy’s new girlfriend Sonia made a hasty exit from Barry after being unimpressed with Gavin and Stacey’s family, leading Nessa to tell Smithy she is in love with him.
Nessa got down on her knees and presented a ring to Smithy and the episode ended immediately ended immediately after she asked: ‘Marry me?’
Shock: Gavin and Stacey fans were left wanting more after Nessa’s shock proposal to Smithy at the end of the Christmas Day special
Viewers took to social media in their droves after the cliffhanger to express their shock at how the episode ended.
The episode also saw fans introduced to Smithy’s new girlfriend Sonia who disliked Gavin and Stacey’s family when she met them in Barry for Christmas.
Sonia told Smithy she did not fit in with the group and told him she wanted to go and see her mother for the rest of Christmas.
She told Smithy he could come with her if he wanted but he chose to stay with the group and his son Neil, who he shares with Nessa.
Cliffhanger: After Smithy’s new girlfriend Sonia made a hasty exit from Barry after being unimpressed with Gavin and Stacey’s family, Nessa told Smithy she is in love with him
Reaction: Viewers took to social media in droves to express their shock at the proposal
The proposal from Nessa will leave Smithy with a tough decision to make as earlier in the episode he told Gavin he was planning on popping the question to Sonia.
The episode began with Gavin and Stacey chatting over the phone from Essex and Barry respectively, as the group prepared to gather in Wales for Christmas.
Viewers were shocked to learn that Gavin and Stacey now have three children together.
Fans learned they are parents to a boy named Harry, and two girls, one of whom is named Meghan, in an apparent nod to the royal family.
The gang enjoyed a night out at the pub on Christmas Eve in Barry where they were reunited with Stacey’s brother Jason.
Nessa and Bryn sang a rendition of Fairytale of New York which proved another talking point among viewers as the word ‘f****t’ was not omitted from the song.
Bryn sang the controversial lyric of the hit in its original version which appeared to shock Gavin as the rest of the group hit the dancefloor.
Surprise: Nessa got down on her knees and presented a ring to Smithy and the episode ended immediately ended immediately after she asked: ‘Marry me?’
New love: The episode also saw fans introduced to Smithy’s new girlfriend Sonia who disliked Gavin and Stacey’s family when she met them in Barry for Christmas
Smithy brought Sonia to Barry to meet Gavin and Stacey’s families along with his son Neil who he shares with Nessa
Choice: The proposal from Nessa will leave Smithy with a tough decision to make as earlier in the episode he told Gavin he was planning on popping the question to Sonia
James reportedly flew back to the UK from Los Angeles to watch the special alongside his family, according to The Sun.
It is thought that James, his wife Julia Carey and their three children have all returned to England for Christmas and the special.
James revealed that the long-awaited Christmas special was saved after he and Ruth Jones wrote the ‘best scene ever.’
The Late Late Show host told The Sun that they decided to scrap the script they’d secretly written in LA, it was brought back to life after an idea ‘landed in the room.’
Speaking on Radio 2, James explained that he and Ruth met last year to try and write something new for Gavin and Stacey, but after writing 40 pages they agreed it wasn’t good enough.
He said: ‘We decided, ”OK, well, thank goodness we didn’t tell anyone. Thank the Lord we didn’t. We’ve scratched this itch that we thought was there, and it isn’t, so no harm done. No one will ever know”.’
James then revealed that the Christmas special finally came together after an idea for a scene just ‘landed in the room.’
‘It’s probably the quickest scene we’ve ever written. And I think it’s the best scene Gavin & Stacey has ever had,’ he added.
‘Suddenly this scene arrived, I can’t tell you, I sound like Mystic Meg, but it landed in the room.’
James was tight-lipped about the nature of the scene, although co-star Mathew Horne hinted on Radio 2 that it involved himself and Joanna Page, as he said it was the first scene they filmed when production began on the special.
James and Ruth admitted they had wanted to write more for a few years but logistically, had found it hard to get together following James’s move to LA.
The last series ended on New Year’s Day in 2010 when Smithy interrupted Nessa’s wedding to Dave Coaches and Stacey announced she was pregnant.
Ahead of the 2019 special airing, Ruth defended the word ‘f****t’ being used in the episode during the Fairytale of New York scene.
The song’s lyrics: ‘You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap-lousy f****t’ have proved controversial with calls for the homophobic slur to be censored from the track.
However, Ruth told The Sun that while the Christmas special is being shown in a ‘different climate’ to the original series which wrapped in 2010, she felt she was staying true to who the characters are by keeping the song uncensored.
She said: ‘It is a different climate. But we have to remain true to the characters, to who they were.
‘Characters in Gavin & Stacey are kind and big-hearted, I believe. So I think no one is going to be intentionally hurtful.
‘But by the same token, they’re not necessarily going to be completely politically correct or be aware of political correctness.’
