The first series of Gavin & Stacey has won pretty much every award going, and pretty deservedly so. Its presence on BBC3 broke the stranglehold that Two Pints of Lager had on the channel’s comedy image. By turns sweet, touching, acutely observed and raucously hilarious, writers James Corden and Ruth Jones (who also appear as Gav-lah and Stace’s best friends Smithy and Ness) faced a real challenge: making a second series that at the very least doesn’t disgrace the memory of the first.
The good news is, they’ve managed not only to do that, but to surpass it in nearly every way. On the strength of its first two episodes (which air in a double bill this Sunday, 16 March), Gavin & Stacey could be on its way to becoming one of the best BBC series of any genre in recent years.
The first series concluded at the eponymous couple’s wedding reception, and the second picks up the story as they are returning from honeymoon. A fairly low-key start sees the supporting cast being gradually re-introduced to us in a way that seems completely natural, yet must surely help any new viewers come on board quite quickly.
And it’s apparent quite early on that the reason the series has gained so many fans is that the supporting cast are all deftly written to always stay on the right side of the line between character and caricature. Even when Ness reveals details about her bizarre life (as well as driving a truck, we find out she used to be in girl band All Saints, and is currently living in a house share that includes Noel from Hear’Say), Corden and Jones’s script ensures that we believe completely in the world we’re watching.
The muted opening of the first episode doesn’t really ramp up until the enlarged family embark on what turns out to be a disastrous dinner at an Italian restaurant. The plot loose end from series one — Ness is pregnant with Smithy’s baby — starts to really take off here, as one by one the dinner guests relocate to the ladies’ toilet to discuss the situation.
In both episodes, it’s the situation between Ness and Smithy that shows signs of being the driving force to the story throughout this series. It would be easy to dismiss that as having writers Corden and Jones giving their own characters more to do out of selfishness, but it’s an effective way of keeping the two sets of characters more firmly intertwined than the marriage of the two central characters can manage on its own. Even there, though, there are signs that all is not well, as Joanna Page gives a nicely understated performance as Stacey struggles to come to terms with living in Essex rather than Barry.
Indeed, all the cast are quite superb, and turn in performances that could quite easily belong in a drama rather than a sitcom. It’s not just the presence of the peerless Alison Steadman that makes Gavin & Stacey so reminiscent of early Mike Leigh. James Corden and Ruth Jones have produced a worthy succcessor to Nuts in May and Abigail’s Party with a second series that deserves all the awards the first received, and more besides.
Can't wait for the new series. Even though appreciation of comedy is far more subjective than for most other genres, for my money G&S is leaps and bounds ahead of any other British sitcom of the last few years.
brilliant series saw first series by accident was completely hooked in the first 5 minutes and that doesnt happen very often cant wait until the next series.