James Corden reveals major secret about Gavin and Stacey finale that viewers don’t know about

Gavin and Stacey made a grand return to our screens last night (25 December) in a Christmas special that tied up a lot of loose ends.

Fans of the drama will remember that back in 2019, viewers were left on a major cliffhanger when Nessa (Ruth Jones) asked Smithy (James Corden) to marry her.

It was easy to imagine that Smithy said yes, and the two went on to live a happy life together while raising their son, Neil.

Last night's finale opened with a wedding - but Smithy was, in fact, preparing to exchange vows with his uptight girlfriend Sonia (Laura Aikman), a move which simply made no sense to his loved ones.

They couldn't stand by and watch Smithy make a huge mistake, so they were propelled into action and urged the Essex native not to make the huge mistake, and Smithy left Sonia at the altar and realised the love of his life was in fact Nessa.

He then underwent the huge mission of tracking her down to confess his love - and, of course, they do end up together happily ever after.

Ruth Jones played Nessa (BBC)

In order to pull off the simply perfect finale, Corden has revealed the secretive mission the cast had to undertake in order not to ruin the surprise.

Ultimately, Aikman had to sneak onto the set so that nobody could guess what was coming.

Corden explained at a screening (via The Mirror): "I just wanted it to feel satisfying really. What was really interesting is after the 2019 special, all people would say to us was, what does he say? They would never say who did he choose.

"I called Ruth and I was like, I wonder if we could trick everybody into thinking that for the first six or seven minutes that they're just going to watch a wedding between Nessa and Smithy. I remember so vividly having that chat with Ruth going, 'oh, I wonder if we could pull that off. I feel like we did'."

The uptight Sonia (Laura Aikman) was jilted at the altar (BBC)

He explained further about the Sonia plot line: "She stayed in different hotels. She was going into places in the dead of night. She's not part of any of this, such is her want to try and protect it.

"She actually promised to try and film her parents on Christmas Day. She hasn't even told them! And she's hoping to film her parents' reaction. She hasn't even said she's in it."

We're sure her family were overjoyed to see her being jilted on the BBC.