Name a decent British sitcom from the last 5 years....now name one that isn't written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant....or David Mitchell and Robert Webb...all you're left with (in my opinion) is a little known sitcom written by Ruth Jones and James Corden that has escalated from a bit-part in the schedule of BBC Three to one of the most loved comedies of recent years - Gavin & Stacey.
The story goes of two people who have never met, Gavin (Matthew Horne) and Stacey (Joanna Page), but eventually decide to do so after months of chatting to one another over the phone. Upon meeting in the middle of Leicester Square along with their best mates, Smithy (played by Corden) and Nessa (Jones), they hit it off and decide it was one of the best decisions they ever made. The same can't be said about Smithy and Nessa however...
As the series goes on it jumps from month to month, as they quickly get engaged and the families meet. Kudos here must go to Rob Brydon for his excellent effort acting as Stacey's uncle Bryn - it's the little things which make him hilarious. Quotes such as "It's got sepia... although I think it's faulty because it just makes everything look brown" and "As long as I show you how to use the rape alarm and you go to London, England and come back Sunday raped, I'll sleep easy in my bed." (They're not word for word, but you get the idea!)
Stacey's family, The West's, live in the seaside Welsh town of Barry. Hardly the Costa de Sol but you try arguing that point with them. Gavin's family, The Shipman's (Yes, the West's and the Shipman's...) come from the Essex town of Billericay so certainly from opposite ends of the British Isles but their families connect brilliantly. Gavin's mum, Pamela (played by Alison Steadman) is an eccentric character who doesn't want her 'little prince' to grow up, whereas Stacey's mum (Melanie Walters) cooks nothing but omelettes...an ongoing joke throughout the series.
Without giving too much away regarding the storyline, the couple plan for their impending wedding which arrives at the end of the series. Before that however there's stag and hen do's which see the likes of Smithy make a fool out of himself, a wedding fare which sees Bryn in a world of his own, and the revelation that Stacey has been engaged before...not once, twice, thrice but five times! Oh, and the ongoing joke of what exactly happened between Bryn and Stacey's brother Jason of 'that' fishing trip...
The success of this first series saw the return of a second series and they are currently in production of a third series which I'm assuming will be out at the start of 2010. It's picked up awards and sold countless numbers of DVDs. For anyone who's not seen it, do yourself a favour a buy a copy! It's regularly repeated on BBC Three so there's also a chance to watch it there. It's British comedy that is one of the best in recent years. Writers could do much worse than copy the formula of Gavin and Stacey.
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Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
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Gavin is an ordinary boy from Essex, Stacey is an ordinary girl from Barry, South Wales. ... more
Although they've spoken on the phone every day at work for months, they've never actually met... until now. But when Gavin and Stacey finally meet and their ordina...
![Gavin And Stacey : Complete BBC Series 1 [2007] [DVD]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/77963794.jpg "Gavin And Stacey : Complete BBC Series 1 [2007] [DVD]")
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