James Cordon’s writing trick for Gavin and Stacey is very clever

If you haven’t had time to watch the Christmas Day episode of Gavin & Stacey, then stop reading now, go and watch it , and come back once you’ve joined the 19 million other people in the UK who’ve already watched it.

Gavin and Stacey: The Finale is one of the most watched scripted TV shows of the century according to official ratings figures – 1 in 4 people sat down to find out how a story that’s lasted 17 years would play out. And it’s a blast – one of the funniest and most tender comedies in recent times.

Gavin and Stacy: A Fond Farewell

Alongside the 94 minute final episode, the BBC have also made a beautiful documentary looking back across the show from the early 2000s to now. Gavin and Stacy: A Find Farewell is packed with cast interviews, insights into the development and writing process, and a look around key locations in Barry with fans of the show.

Gavin and Stacey brings together two families and their friends, one from Essex in England and one from Barry Island in South Wales. The richly detailed characters are a goldmine for comedy and surprise, every one filled with traits and mannerisms that you are sure to recognise in someone you know from family, friends, people in your area.

James Cordon: “I was watching this wedding taking place and thinking ‘all life is here.’ Lots of people who don’t know each other have come together because two people have fallen in love and want to declare their love in front of all their friends and family, and I thought that could become a show, with all these different characters.”

Robert Wilfort, who plays Jason West, sums up the show’s appeal in a beautiful way.

“People relate to it so well because they recognise themselves in it and also their families, but also because it’s never cruel in its comedy,” he says. “All the characters basically love each other and are finding each other funny. Because they would. Because real people make each other laugh.”

James Corden’s comedy writing trick

So how do writers James Cordon and Ruth Jones keep the comedy momentum pushing forward through each episode?

“The trick really, I think, to writing anything or the way Ruth and I have tried to write, is the idea there’s your lead characters, the supporting characters, and the audience,” says James Cordon.

“And at any one point in every single scene, one of those three shouldn’t know what’s going on.”

“If you think about episode six, series one, Nessa knows she’s pregnant, Stacy knows she’s pregnant, the audience knows she’s pregnant, Smithy doesn’t.”

This is a very simple and powerful way to keep the writing fresh and continue generating new and interesting ways for the characters to interact and play off each other.