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Gavin & Stacey Christmas special almost ended with shock cheat scandal for the couple

19 December 2019, 08:02 | Updated: 19 December 2019, 08:03

By Naomi Bartram

Gavin & Stacey creators Ruth Jones and James Corden almost gave up on the much-loved couple.

Gavin & Stacey fans are currently gearing up for an incredible Christmas special on December 25th.

But while we've been waiting ten years for all the characters to reunite, it turns out the storyline almost took a devastating turn.

In fact, the writers of the sitcom Ruth Jones, 53, and James Corden, 41 have now revealed they put forward the idea of Mat Horne’s character Gavin Shipman cheating on his wife Stacey West (Joanna Page).

But luckily, Ruth said: “It didn’t feel right with the show.”

Gavin almost cheated on Stacey in the Christmas special. Picture: BBC

Actor Mat, 41, then added: “They decided it was too much and it would have been really hard to play that. I don’t think you’d believe Gav would stray.”

When the last series ended back in 2010, Gavin & Stacey were expecting their first baby together, while Nessa and Smithy were co-parenting their son Neil.

Speaking about what’s happened to the foursome in the decade they’ve been off our screens, Ruth said: “We obviously wanted to take it 10 years on but didn’t want to sensationalise it and have something major happen.

"We didn’t want to make it like a big explosion, we wanted to keep it as real as possible, true to the characters as possible.

"But also you have to have a narrative drive in there as well.”

The Christmas special will air on December 25th. Picture: BBC

She added: “We did take a while to decide. We were talking one day, ‘Is Gavin going to have an affair?’ and those ideas didn’t feel right with the show”.

James revealed he and Ruth had been working on a Christmas reunion back in the summer, with a full trailer finally released last month.

The hilarious minute-long clip sees the whole gang come together for a Christmas party round at Pam and Mick's.

In the beginning of the clip, Gavin can be seen opening his front door to best mate Smithy in a Santa hat, and they immediately start singing Elton John's Step Into Christmas.

Pam (Alison Steadman) and Mick (Larry Lamb) then swiftly join in as they dance around in the hallway.

Uncle Bryn (Rob Brydon) is later seen in charge of making Christmas dinner, before Pete (Adrian Scarborough) and Dawn Sutcliffe (Julia Davis) are back to their bickering ways.

The video ends with everyone looking cheery as they party the night away in a pub.

The extra special episode is set to air on Christmas Day at 8:30pm on BBC One.