Gavin & Stacey

Gavin & Stacey special is the greatest festive episode

Come Christmas Day, we'll be sitting down to watch it yet again. And again. And again.

Shipman's victim's son attacks Gavin and Stacey

The BBC comedy series Gavin and Stacey has delighted millions of fans whilst also gaining a clutch of awards. But until the Christmas special, few among the audience had realised that the main characters are named after serial killers.

It's Chriiiisssstmaaasss! hollers Smithy down the phone to Gavin, and indeed it is. Unlike some Christmas specials whose only relevance to this time of year is the transmission date, our December date with the Shipmans and the Wests was the televisual equivalent of a full turkey dinner, turning up sloshed at midnight mass and answering the door to three sullen youths who give you a load of abuse when asked to expand their carolling repertoire beyond the chorus of 'We wish you a Merry Christmas.' Plus, it had a decent plot and some killer lines. Marvellous.

The problem with Gavin and Stacey - other than James Corden's penchant for making a prat of himself at awards ceremonies - is not that it's terrible. It isn't. It's overrated but it can actually be rather sweet, albeit with self-consciously saucy bits (An old lady talking about drugs! How risque!) and an irksome jarring inauthenticity. Still, like the mint Baileys that so beguiles Bryn (Rob Brydon), Corden and Ruth Jones's comedy is something of an acquired taste and one acquired by rather a lot of people.

One of the most endearing and understated series of recent years, this sure-fire comedy about Essex boy Gavin and his Welsh sweetheart, Stacey, combines mordant humour and cringe-making moments of mundanity with seemingly effortless success.

This hour-long special is destined to become a classic - as James Corden and Mathew Horne confirm they'll be making another series.

The whole tone is perfect, crammed with great character acting and brilliantly observed humour, as the entire Barry contingent converge on Billericay.

The devil is in the detail - with the merits of Mint Baileys, EastEnders, Battleships, and talc all discussed. Watching Smithy singing along to Feed The World breaking into bouts of road rage is hilarious. While his attempts at coping with a future without Ness, his baby, and his best mate are genuinely touching.

James Corden on the Christmas special

After a year in which he won a Bafta for playing the lovably flawed Smithy in Gavin & Stacey, then a British Comedy Award for co-writing the thing, and was extolled as the new face of British comedy, James Corden is entitled to put up his feet on Christmas Day.