'There were a lot of tears'

Larry Lamb on the finale of Gavin & Stacey, his close bond with his co-stars and his new interest in farming

- KENZI DEVINE

The festive season is officially upon us, and one person who can't wait to step into Christmas is actor Larry Lamb, who is reprising the role of Mick Shipman in the highly anticipated conclusion of Gavin & Stacey.

The much-loved sitcom, written by James Corden and Ruth Jones, is returning for the first time in five years, with one last instalment.

"What an extraordinary experience filming it was," beams Larry, 77, who plays Gavin's father. "For all the people who have been watching religiously since the show started, you've got a trip coming up, I'll tell you that!

"Everybody is going to get flipped and flipped again because it's so, so clever, what Ruth and James have done. The way they've tied all the loose ends of the story together it's like a piece of a fabric that's been knitted and interwoven. It's an incredible episode."

Gavin & Stacey first hit our screens in 2007 and ran for three years, before returning in 2019 for a Christmas special that ended with a nail-biting cliffhanger when Ruth's character, Nessa, got down on one knee to propose to Smithy, played by James.

Viewers are still waiting to find out whether the pair rode off into the sunset together, so excitement is high for the final episode, which premieres on Christmas Day.

"This is the one job where I've signed up before even seeing the script," says Larry. "We all said 'yes' before we knew what it was, because we needed to all be free before they could start planning it. If somebody had gone and signed up for a big deal that would crash right through the time we'd be filming, that would have been a major problem.

"When we finally all sat down and read the script, it was better than I could've imagined. I thought, 'How on earth are they going to bring it all to an end?' But they have, and it's so good."