Gavin and Stacey final smashes records with huge boost for BBC

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The beloved BBC sitcom concluded on Christmas Day, five years after its previous festive special in 2019. The emotional send-off saw characters Nessa and Smithy finally tie the knot, much to the delight of Barry Island's residents.It has now been disclosed that the Gavin and Stacey finale was the most-watched programme on Christmas Day, with the BBC dominating the ratings war.

Preliminary overnight figures from BARB, a ratings tracker, indicate that Gavin and Stacey amassed a staggering 12.3 million viewers.This means that the popular BBC sitcom garnered the biggest Christmas Day audience in over a decade, making it the largest non-sporting event in more than 10 years.

These numbers surpassed Gavin and Stacey's own record set by the previous episode aired in 2019. At that time, the show pulled in an average of 11.6 million viewers, marking the highest overnight ratings for a Christmas Day programme since 2008, reports the Daily Star.

Fans had eagerly anticipated a grand and dramatic final episode, given the cliffhangers left by the 2019 instalment. They were not disappointed as they watched Smithy, portrayed by James Corden, leave his girlfriend Sonia at the altar - a character who only appeared in the 2019 Christmas special - in a bid to win back Nessa, played by Ruth Jones.In Wednesday's gripping episode, it was unveiled that Nessa's proposal - which had left fans in suspense - was interrupted before Smithy could respond.