James Corden and Ruth Jones admit that they had artistic variations over how Gavin & Stacey ought to finish as they reveal the actual motive it took so lengthy to movie the finale

James Corden and Ruth Jones have admitted they had creative differences over how Gavin & Stacey should end.

The Smithy and Nessa actors will be returning for one final episode on Christmas day and spoke on Friday’s episode of The Graham Norton Show.

They told on the show how they were at ‘different places’ with coming back for another episode but eventually came to an agreement on the ending.

Ruth, 58, said: ‘Initially when the last episode went out, I was keen to follow it up and James wasn’t, then he was keen and I wasn’t. 

‘I think over the last few years we have been in different places with it. I was content to leave it on a cliffhanger, but then eventually we both landed in a place where we felt we owed it to fans of the show to finish the story.’

James added: ‘It was quite pressured and hard to think about how to make the end satisfying to the audience and to the characters. 

‘Ruth and I got together on our own and it was only when we thought we had a story – about 70 pages into a 100-page script – that we called the BBC.’

During the chat show appearance James, 46, added that it would definitely be the last ever installment of the show. 

He said: ‘It’s very hard to talk about because there are so many spoilers but when people watch it on Christmas, they will see why it will be, without question, the last time you will see these characters.’

Talking about the last day of filming, James also said: ‘It was a very, very special day. We made sure that the last line people hear in the episode was the very last line we shot, which is a very rare thing. 

‘Everyone was there at the end with lots of crying. Joanna who plays Stacey pretty much cried every day. There were lots of goodbyes. It was very emotional.’

The critically acclaimed series follows the lives of titular characters Gavin from Essex and Stacey from South Wales, documenting key points in their long-distance relationship and events that bring the two families together.

Gavin and Stacey fist aired on BBC Three in 2007 and spanned 20 episodes over the course of three series.

As well as James and Ruth, it turned Mathew Horne and Joanna Page into household names.

The ‘last ever’ installment will air in a 90-minute special on Christmas Day this year after fans of the show begged for an end to the story.

It comes after James and Ruth revealed Gavin & Stacey fans will be treated to a lot more Smithy and Nessa in the final episode, musing that their characters’ ‘messy’ relationship is the beating heart of the BBC show.

Appearing on the podcast Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware, the actors and writing partners teased the Christmas special, spilling that fans will find out a lot more about Ruth’s character Nessa’s past as well as her future with Smithy.

‘Nessa has had this unbelievable checkered life and you find out more about that in this special — some really fun bits that we wrote,’ James explained.

He mused that the reason fans have taken Smithy and Nessa to their hearts is because ‘on TV or films, you very rarely see people that look like Ruth and I fall in love.’

‘You just don’t. I’d be dropping off a TV to Hugh Grant in Bridget Jones and Ruth’s like working on a newsstand when someone buys a newspaper.’

‘What I like about the show is that it’s so messy and complicated and they just clearly have fantastic sex. I really enjoy that confidence.’

Ruth added though that in the early days, the writers partners were unsure how to pitch the unique relationship, explaining: ‘The first time they had sex was in the very first episode and I think because we didn’t quite know what the show was we were probably being quite sitcom about it.’

‘We were there, just the two of us, on that road that had meant so much to us and I just, as Ruth, was looking at my dear friend James and when I said ‘I loved you with all my heart’ I was saying it to you [James],’  Ruth recalled.

Despite the pair now promising the upcoming special actually is the finale, there’s been a flurry of fan speculation that there could be more to come.

James is adamant though that this is it, giving an ominous  warning to viewers as she said: ‘It can’t carry on. When you’ll see it, you’ll know.’

The Graham Norton Show, BBC One, Friday 20th December 10.40pm. Also available on BBC iPlayer.

Gavin and Stacey: The Finale will air on Christmas Day at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.