Gavin and Stacey stars pictured on Barry Island for 'one last time'

Gavin and Stacey actresses Joanna Page and Ruth Jones have been pictured on set at Barry Island for “one last time”.

The BBC announced on Monday that filming had got under way for the sitcom’s last episode, which will air on Christmas Day this year.

The show’s co-creator James Corden, who plays Smithy in the series, posted a photo on Instagram on Tuesday that appeared to show Page and Jones facing away from the camera in front of O’Shea’s Fish & Chip Cafe in character as Stacey and Nessa.

Corden captioned the post: “Day 2. One last time on the island x.”

On the first day of filming, the BBC shared a photo of a clapperboard, dated September 2, which said “Gavin & Stacey The Finale”.

In reference to a phrase, often uttered by Alison Steadman’s character Pam, the Instagram caption read: “Oh. My. Christ.”

“The final episode of Gavin & Stacey started filming today,” it added.

“Truth be told, we’re a little bit excited.

“Watch #GavinandStacey on #iPlayer this Christmas Day.”

The hit TV series aired for three series between 2007 and 2010 and made a comeback in 2019 for a one-off festive episode which ended on a cliff-hanger when Jones’ character Nessa proposed to Smithy.

In the sitcom, Mathew Horne and Page play lovers Gavin and Stacey, Larry Lamb is Gavin’s father Mick, Melanie Walters portrays Stacey’s widowed mother Gwen, and Rob Brydon plays her Uncle Bryn.

Former chat show host Corden, 46, announced the show’s return in an Instagram post on May 3 by sharing an image of him and Jones with a 2024 script titled Gavin And Stacey: The Finale.

Corden revealed in July that he and Jones had finished writing the script for the final episode.

The actor told Chris Evans on his Virgin Radio breakfast show that he felt “very emotional by all of it” as he reflected on the show and his friendship with Jones.

“We’ve finished writing, we will never write anything that Pam says again…,” he said.

“We will never come up with an interesting thing that Bryn has done.”

The 2019 festive episode scored the highest overnight Christmas ratings in 12 years, attracting an average audience of 11.6 million viewers, making it the biggest festive special since Christmas Day 2008.

By the new year, it had been viewed by 17.1 million people, making it the biggest scripted programme of the decade at the time.It went on to win the impact award at the National Television Awards in 2020.