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Gavin and Stacey: The Finale potentially may not have happened if it were not for James Corden's surprise 40th Mexican mariachi party.

Ruth Jones, 59, did not want to return to the BBC comedy series after series three ended in January 2010, but James, 47, wanted to make more.

And so the pair - who co-created and starred in the programme - spoke at length about reviving the show by the pool, and Ruth had a change of heart, resulting in the 2019 and 2024 festive specials, of which the latter raked in over 20 million viewers.

James recalled in his and Ruth's book When Gavin met Stacey and Everything in Between: "I'd always thought we should do another one. By the end of series three, we had 10 million viewers. And it just felt like the show wasn't going away. People would

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