Gavin and Stacey's James Corden and Ruth Jones break down in tears as they detail the moment they decided to pen a follow-up to THAT cliffhanger - as fans prepare to bid farewell to the iconic show with a festive swan song

There's just six days to go until the much-anticipated final episode of Gavin and Stacey, with fans set to say an emotional goodbye to the beloved comedy, 17 years after it first hit screens.

And ahead of its broadcast on Christmas Day, creators James Corden and Ruth Jones broke down in tears as they bid their own farewell to the show they first imagined 20 years earlier, as they attended the finale premiere on Wednesday.

The pair, who play Smithy and Nessa in the iconic series, went onto reveal that while fans had been demanding an answer to the show's 2019 proposal cliffhanger since it first aired, it wasn't until last year they decided to reunite to pen one last episode.

Fans were aghast when the show's previous festive special concluded 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 bring an answer to that all-important question, and shed some light on what happened during the famous fishing trip.

Speaking at a Q&A during the premiere of the final episode earlier this week, a tearful Ruth said: 'I'm really sorry. I'm so pathetic' as she cried and thanked James, who she labelled 'my travel companion'.

They went onto share that it was back in August 2023 that they first discussed the idea of writing a new episode, but the news wasn't shared with the nation until May of this year.

Referencing Nessa's proposal, she said: 'Well, it took me a little while to get up off my knees, and to be quite honest I don't think I could get down on one knee now!'

James added: 'I think we both have various points where we talked about doing it, and for one reason or another, Ruth may have said, ''I think we should do it now'', and I said ''I don't know''. 

'I can remember a moment where 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 headspace.''

'We decided to speak last summer; because we talk all the time as friends, it's quite difficult when you work all the time with your best friend, because a lot of times we're just talking about life stuff. And then I said, ''let's just log in a time''. It was last summer, wasn't it? It was August. I said 4pm Tuesday, let's do a FaceTime.'

James and Ruth added that they kept their plans to try and write another episode a secret from the cast and BBC bosses, and it wasn't until they were well into the writing process that they secretly met BBC's Chief Content Officer Charlotte Moore.

'We both were in exactly the 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, it doesn't matter, we haven't told anybody. We haven't told the cast. We haven't spoken to the BBC, and we didn't,'' James said.

'We didn't contact Charlotte till we'd written, I think 70 pages of this special because by then we felt like ''we've got something that we feel that we're ready to to share because it may sound a complete nonsense.'' 

'It doesn't really feel like we're in charge of writing it. I feel like we just have to be together, and we sort of open a portal and the characters arrive and they tell us what they want everybody to know.'

The episode sees Bryn once again packing up his Picasso for another trip to Essex, while Stacey and Gavin are looking for new ways to spice up their seventeen year marriage.

Elsewhere, Gwen's strange behaviour catches her daughter's eye, while Neil The Baby is about to begin an apprenticeship with his dad.

Over in Billericay Pam is stressing out at the prospect of playing hostess, not helped by a 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 drew in huge ratings of over 12 million viewers when it first aired, and this conclusion is set to have even bigger numbers.  

Asked for the secret to the show's success, James added: 'Young people are now watching things at twice the speed that it was ever meant to be formatted at and you're told speed is important. And here's a show that ended 15 years ago, waited ten years to tell another hour of the story, and waited five more years to end it. 

'Actually maybe time and patience and care might be the answer for things to have longevity outside of what we consume on our phones.'

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