Review Round-Up: Critics United In Praise For ‘Gavin And Stacey’ Finale’s “Perfect Ending”

Caroline Frost

26 December 2024 at 6:50 am·2-min read

Gavin and Stacey’s big finale easily won the battle for UK TV viewers on Christmas Day, and now it seems it has won over the critics as well.

Ruth Jones and James Corden’s comedy, set in Essex, England and Barry, south Wales, went out with a bang on Christmas Day evening, with more than 12million viewers tuning in to discover the characters’ fates, including whether Smithy (Corden) would accept the marriage proposal from Nessa (Jones), the best friends of title stars Gavin (Matthew Horne) and Stacey (Joanna Page).

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The show delivered the happy ending across many fronts desired by fans of the comedy, which made its debut in 2007 and ran for three series.

It seems critics were charmed too.

The Daily Mail’s Christopher Stevens wrote:

“Our greatest sitcoms can be judged by the brilliance of their Christmas highlights…

The climax of the romcom created 17 years ago by James Corden and Ruth Jones delivered a moment to equal any of them…

“As well as the unexpected twists, a bundle of loose ends were tied up… The ending was perfect and it’s over.” ★★★★★

The Guardian’s Rachel Areosti opined:

“Ruth Jones and James Corden’s romcom perfectly offset its superficial sweetness with an undercurrent of sour edge. Best of all, it doubled as a joyous hymn to humdrum British life, instilling mind-numbing minutiae with cheer and turning mundane small talk into a kind of poetry…

“The sheer cathartic perfection of the ending takes the sting out of the fact that this really is goodbye.” ★★★★★

Carol Midgeley of The Times of London wrote:

What Jones and Corden do skilfully is observe cheerful truths about working-class life and ordinary people who mostly like each other. It is rare to get a communal “TV event” these days but this felt like one. I doubt they could have ended it much better. ★★★★☆

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