Could Gavin & Stacey Finale Defeat 2019 Christmas Special in Ratings? Check Out the Latest

_{Families across the UK prepare to tune in for the Gavin & Stacey Christmas Day finale. (Image: M4OS Photos / Alamy)}

Gavin & Stacey fans have patiently waited five years for another episode of the BBC sitcom, and there isn't long to go now.

The excitement has been building—there's even a bingo promotion for all those named Gavin or Stacey—since co-creators James Corden and Ruth Jones ended speculation about whether the show will be back for more by revealing a finale will air this year.

The festive and last-ever episode will air on Christmas Day, and it is expected to be the show's swansong.

It will be the first episode since the 2019 Christmas special, which wowed in the ratings by becoming the most-viewed non-sporting event in a decade and the most-watched comedy in 17 years.

Including catch-up figures, the episode drew a staggering 18.49 million views—over eight million more views than the finale of the third and final series in January 2010.

The show has come a long way since its early days on BBC Three in May 2007, when the first four episodes didn't even reach one million views apiece.

Corden now believes that part of the programme's success is down to "patience" in the fast-paced world we live in. He said, "In the last few months, people have spoken a lot about why we think that the show may have garnered the attention that it's got now.

"And the more I've thought about it, I sort of wonder if it's actually a lesson in patience.

"We're sort of told now, particularly in television or the way that we consume stuff, we talk about content, and we talk about consumers, and we talk about speed—and we've decided that speed is the single most important thing in everything that you can do.

"You get young people now watching things at twice the speed that it was ever meant to be formatted at. And you're told speed is important. And here's a show that ended 15 years ago, waited 10 years to tell another hour of the story, and waited five more years to end it."

_{James Corden and Ruth Jones reprise their iconic roles as Smithy and Nessa. (Image: Collection Christophel / Alamy)}

The first season garnered just under one million UK views on average in 2007, and three years later, season three boasted an average of more than seven million after the programme had been upgraded to BBC One.

But pretty much nobody predicted the dizzying ratings heights of the 2019 Christmas special, so will the finale be able to improve on that?

Record-Breaking Gavin & Stacey

While there are no doubt more streaming services tearing people away from terrestrial TV than there were in 2019, the hype surrounding the Gavin & Stacey finale almost guarantees it will be a ratings success, especially with catch-up figures included.

Corden and Jones have been on the publicity trail of late, but the show is so loved they could've just sat on their sofas and watched on as their die-hard fanbase, who have taken the show's beloved characters into their hearts since 2007, surely still tune in after their Christmas dinners.

Such is the close-knit bond of the co-creators: Corden and Jones are planning to watch the finale together on Christmas Day alongside their real-life families.

While joining forces to watch on one TV set might lose them a viewing figure, it's doubtful they will need it. It is just 10/11 that the Gavin & Stacey finale hits 18.5 million viewers or more, and in doing so, defeating the 2019 festive episode and sets some more records.

Should the episode dip below that, it is still likely to be well received. It's 2/1 that between 15 million and 18.49 million tune in and catch up, while it's a massive 25/1 that the finale is a flop and has less than 10 million viewers.

Can Gavin & Stacey Carry On?

As well as bigging up the finale in recent days, Corden and Jones have been busy making new Gavin & Stacey announcements. The pair have put pen to paper on a new installment of sorts—a book about the well-loved sitcom.

Entitled When Gavin Met Stacey and Everything in Between: A Story Of Love And Friendship, fans will have to wait until October 2025 to read it, but it will give die-hard supporters a Gavin & Stacey fix 10 months after the finale has aired.

Following the book announcement, is there a possibility that Christmas Day isn't the end of Gavin & Stacey episodes Last month, Larry Lamb—who plays Gavin's dad, Mick Shipman, in the series—hinted there could be another episode after the finale.

Speaking to Radio Times magazine, he said, "I don’t think the BBC will ever kill the goose that laid the golden egg. The point is, we just put together the most extraordinary grand finale to the best part of 20 years of work. Who knows?"

_{Fans even gathered to catch a glimpse of the Gavin & Stacey filming of the 2019 Christmas special, the one which set UK ratings records. (Image: Mark Lewis / Alamy)}

However, both Corden and Jones have spent weeks telling fans this will, most definitely, be the last-ever episode. Corden recently admitted it will become "very, very clear" in the finale why the programme can't continue.

Corden said, "It can’t carry on; it genuinely can’t. And you’ll realise that there are certain moments that happen in the episode that make it very, very clear that the show cannot carry on.

"We, as writers, wouldn’t know how to carry on that story. We feel very, very proud of it. We’ve really given it everything we could have given it."

It certainly sounds like Corden and Jones made their minds up when writing the script for the upcoming festive special, and it's just 4/6 for the Christmas Day episode to be its last.

Smithy Vs King Charles 

While that will be bittersweet for some fans, the show looks set to go out in a blaze of glory.

Not only does it seem on track to pull in some huge viewing figures, but even if it doesn't overcome the 2019 episode, Gavin & Stacey should still be the most-watched UK show on Christmas Day.

It's just 1/8 that Gavin & Stacey lands the most-watched accolade, with King Charles likely to be their biggest competition. 

The King's Christmas Broadcast it the 5/1 second favourite, and it's 8/1 that the new Wallace & Gromit film Vengeance Most Fowl secures a shock victory.

However, Gavin & Stacey could face some competition from another BBC juggernaut—Strictly Come Dancing. The show's Christmas Special airs on the big day, but it's a 10/1 outsider to defeat Gavin & Stacey in the festive ratings war, and the Doctor Who festive special is 16/1.

Before Gavin & Stacey rocked up, the soaps used to be huge contenders to garner the biggest viewing figures at Christmas. However, times have changed, and both EastEnders and Coronation Street are propping up the market at a massive 50/1 this year.