Gavin and Stacey's Ruth Jones hints at dramatic finale with helicopter crash joke on Brydon podcast

Ruth Jones has revealed that she and James Corden initiated writing the final episode of Gavin and Stacey in September of the previous year, devoting ample time to ensure its quality.

Since confirming the comeback of the show last month, Ruth, an actor and writer on the series, is constantly bombarded by fans seeking spoilers. However, instead of revealing sitcom secrets, she playfully teased that the majority of the cast might meet their end in a "helicopter crash".

While guesting on pal and co-star Rob Brydon's Wondery podcast called 'Brydon and', Ruth spoke candidly about her frustration regarding the premature leak of the finale's development news in February when they were not yet ready to officially verify its production. Nevertheless, the 57-year-old assured viewers that by Christmas Day, they will be able to witness a "finished story".

She remarked: "I was very sad that it got leaked. James and I had been writing since September, which is always the case with us. We write it and then we go to the BBC and say do you want it because if we didn't feel it was going to be good enough, no one else would know and nobody would be any the wiser.

"So, when we felt it was in good enough shape, that's when we contacted the BBC. There was all this stuff about Netflix and a bidding war... absolute rubbish, you just go, where did this come from? And so, once we agreed with the BBC we were going to do it, and obviously they were very happy about it because it's finishing a story and this will be the finale.", reports the Mirror.

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She continued: "But then there's a whole process and you can't announce it because you've got to make sure the cast are all available, that the deals are done and the budget is in place... all of these things. Then this journalist went and leaked it."

When they did finally confirm the finale in May of this year, Ruth was on stage in Sister Act and Corden was preparing for a new play, so the photo had to be taken in the theater dressing room.

She explained: "James is rehearsing a play at the moment, The Constituent at the Old Vic, I was doing a show in the night, so the only time we had was a 20-minute crossover before I had to do my warmup and he finished his rehearsals. So, he came to my dressing room in the Dominion Theatre, we got the script with the title on the front, Gavin and Stacey and the finale, and we took a picture in my dressing room of us both holding the script.

"And that's where it is. And now when people come to see me after the show, they go 'can I get a photo', and yes do you want to get it done where we did the photo of the announcement. And it still had an impact, enough time had passed, and people were still really excited."

Gavin and Stacey, one of the UK's most cherished sitcoms, saw its 2019 Christmas special become the most-watched programme in a decade with over 18 million viewers tuning in. However, fans were left hanging by the episode's cliffhanger, which featured Nessa (played by Ruth Jones) popping the question to the lovable Smithy (James Corden).

During her appearance on a new podcast, Ruth shared with her friend Rob how her role in Sister Act has led to constant queries about the future of Gavin and Stacey.

She recounted: "At the end of Sister Act, I go out of the stage door and there are often people there wanting programmes signed, which is lovely. But to a man, they'll say 'I'm the biggest Gavin and Stacey fan' or 'thank you so much for this Christmas special' or 'You must be so excited, I can't wait til Christmas'. A couple of people at the stage door, say 'What's going to happen, is Smithy going to say yes? '.

"And I go to them, 'Do you seriously want me to tell you what's going to happen in the Christmas Special? ' And they go 'yes! '. And I go 'but you don't, because what happens on Christmas Day when you come to watch it, you'll know what's going to happen.' And they go, 'please tell me'.

"So, I go (jokingly) 'there's going to be helicopter crash, most of the cast are going to get killed', and I just make stuff up! ".

During her conversation with Rob, Ruth also shared an incident from the set of the 1996 film Emma, where she felt belittled by Gwyneth Paltrow.

She recalled: "I had two lines, I had to announce Gwyneth Paltrow and say, 'Miss Woodhouse is here' and then I had to say 'Goodbye Miss Woodhouse' at the exit and let her out, and GP cut one of my lines. She said, 'Does she really need to say that, can I just come in? ' Imagine this for people who are starting out. You've got two lines, and someone cut 50 percent of your script, it's heartbreaking."

She continued: "I had to do the scene letting her out of the house, you can imagine the camera is on the other side of the door, in this beautiful little Dorset village, lovely little thatched cottage. We were waiting for them to shout action, so it was just me and Gwyneth behind the door. She didn't want to talk to me, I was a nothing was I, I had one line then I was down to one. So, I tried to make conversation with her and at the time she was going out with Brad Pitt. And I said, 'do you have any Welsh connections? ' Because {the name} Gwyneth, I always think of as a Welsh name. 'How come you're called Gwyneth? '".

She added: "My mother had a friend called Gwyneth and she really liked the name, so she called my Gwyneth.” She was quite dismissive of me, so I was thinking it’s an old woman’s name where I come from so when you get married, you’re going to be called Gwyn Pitt!"

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