James Corden is returning to his roots in more ways than one, with a new episode of the popular BBC sitcom Gavin and Stacey confirmed for this Christmas – months after the High Wycombe native moved back across the pond.

Corden announced the news in an Instagram post this morning (May 3), alongside a photo of him and fellow creator Ruth Jones with a 2024 script titled: “Gavin and Stacey: The Finale.”

He wrote: “Some news… It’s official!!! We have finished writing the last ever episode of Gavin and Stacey. See you on Christmas Day, BBC One. Love Ruth and James.”

A spokesperson for the BBC added: “We’ll have: A chicken bhuna, lamb bhuna, prawn bhuna, mushroom rice, bag of chips, keema naan, nine poppadoms and the last ever episode of Gavin and Stacey!!!

“Coming this Christmas Day on BBC One and iPlayer.”

Jones previously shut down rumours that the series would return.

US outlet Deadline reported in February that the special was being produced by Steve Coogan’s Baby Cow, Jones’s Tidy Productions and Fulwell 73, which is co-owned by Corden.

The comedy series followed the two titular characters Gavin and Stacey, played by Mathew Horne and Joanna Page, as they pursued a relationship across Essex and Wales between 2007 and 2009.

After its initial three-series run, a festive special in 2019 saw Smithy, played by Corden, and Nessa, whose characters had an on-off relationship, end on a cliff-hanger after Nessa, played by Jones, proposed.

The 2019 festive episode scored the highest overnight Christmas ratings in 12 years when it aired, attracting an average audience of 11.6 million viewers, making it the biggest festive special since Christmas Day 2008.

By the new year, it had been viewed by 17.1 million people, making it the biggest scripted programme of the decade at the time.

Bucks Free Press:

Jones told the PA News Agency in 2020 that the barrier to further episodes was Corden living in the US prior to his exit from his talk show The Late Late Show With James Corden, which ended in 2023.

“We still have the same situation, which is that James and I live on different continents, so getting together to write is very difficult, so who knows?” she said. “At the moment there are no plans.”

Corden, who grew up in Hazlemere, announced his return to the UK last spring and secured planning permission to build a six-bedroom mega-mansion in Henley-upon-Thames in September 2023.

He will also return to London’s West End this summer in a limited-time run of The Constituent, a political drama written by Oliver award-winning playwright Joe Penhall and premiering in the Old Vic Theatre in June.