Gavin and Stacey star banned from cast reunion party and forced to sleep in separate hotel

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Gavin and Stacey: The Finale

Gavin and Stacey producers went to great lengths to ensure that no details about plans for this year's Christmas grand finale would be leaked to fans - including by making one star stay in a separate hotel.

And arguably even more savage, writers also forced this one actor to miss any public cast reunions in the build up to the episode.

For those who haven't yet had a chance to catch up with this year's episode - which also happens to be the last that cast and crew will ever film - it follows the events of the 2019 festive special.

You know, the one where Nessa realised she'd loved Smithy all along, and she got down on one knee outside Gwen's house, popping out a ring and asking him the all-important question?

Well, this year's episode takes place five years after that, with Nessa revealing pretty early on that Gavin had eventually interrupted her proposal that night, and that Smithy had never ever given her an answer.

Naturally, therefore, when the 2024 finale kicked off with Gavin and Stacey helping Smithy to arrange a wedding - sorting out suit fittings and planning stag/hen dos - fans assumed Smithy said 'yes'.

The fact that his nasty-piece-of-work girlfriend Sonia - who was introduced to viewers in the 2019 episode, taking an instant dislike to Smithy's friends and family and fleeing from Gwen's Christmas dinner early - hadn't yet been mentioned also served as evidence for this.

Nessa proposed to Smithy in 2019 (BBC)

That was, until Smithy rocked up to John Lewis to make his wedding present list, only to be met with a very excited Sonia, making it clear that he'd since gotten engaged to her in the meantime.

Fans were shellshocked by the revelation, wondering how Nessa - who hadn't yet been seen in the episode - would feel about Smithy's upcoming nuptials, especially when they're so clearly meant for one another.

Naturally, viewers were also blown away as to how producers were able to keep Sonia's involvement in the finale a secret for so long.

Well, as we say, writers actually went to rather extreme lengths to achieve this level of mystery, making the decision to ban actress Laura Aikman from any cast reunions during the build up to the Christmas finale.

Viewers were horrified by Sonia's return (BBC)

TV critic Scott Bryan has since spilt the beans on how the gang kept everything hush hush for so long.

"Sonia (Laura Aikman) stayed in different hotels than the crew to protect the plot," he tweeted after the episode aired on 25 Dec.

"She didn’t even tell her parents she was in it, who are tuning in to the finale tonight alongside her."

And after some social media users simply couldn't believe that Aikman had even been able to keep the secret from her family, the actress shared a video on Instagram of her parents watching the ep, their jaws dropping when it was revealed that she'd be marrying Smithy.

"The moment my family realise Sonia is ruining Christmas again…", she captioned the hilarious video, in which her mother could be heard yelling, 'Oh my God?! What? You never told us!', before Aikman replies: "We never told anyone!"

She captioned the clip: "I take an NDA very seriously."

The episode's director Christine Gernon has since also opened up on the grand plan, writing online: "@Lauraikman spent the whole G&S shoot being hidden away.

"Staying in a different hotel, not allowed to come to wrap or screening parties so no-one knew Sonia was back.

"Such a great reveal. And she’s amazing as both actor and person."

And as we say, though fans were horrified by Sonia's return, they were amazed by the level of secrecy they'd been able to maintain.

"I heard the whole UK gasp!" one wrote on X, with another penning: "Gotta deal with the insufferable Sonia on Gavin and Stacey AGAIN?!"