Gavin and Stacey star thrown astonishing lifeline after show axe

ok.co.uk:

Gavin and Stacey played a huge part in the nation’s Christmas Day with millions of viewers tuning in for the final episode, which saw Smithy and Nessa finally tie the knot.The show saw the return of fan favourite actors including James Corden, Ruth Jones, Joanna Page and Mathew Horne.

Fans saw Dave Coaches (Steffan Rhodri) save the day when he got Smithy and the gang to see Nessa in time before she set sail, and had fans in fits of laughter at the same time.

However, Ruth, who plays Nessa, and co-writes the show, revealed the character was actually only supposed to be in one episode.

When asked if the characters evolved in the way you thought they would when the show first started or if they’d developed them as they went along, Ruth said: “We’ve developed them as we’ve gone along. “For example Dave Coaches was only ever meant to be in one episode for the trip to London, but Steffan is such a great actor and he brought the character so brilliantly to life, we ended up writing him in pretty much all the episodes!” Steffan himself admitted that in series 1, he had to convince his agent the role was worth doing as it was such a small part. “Because Dave only appeared in a couple of scenes in one episode of series 1, I had to convince my agent that it was worth doing what she considered a small part,” he said. “I sensed it was a hit and had no doubt about doing it.