Gavin & Stacey

Gavin and Stacey: series three, episode three

Gavin has a night out with the boys while Stacey makes a worrying discovery.

John Prescott to appear in TV comedy Gavin and Stacey

Former deputy prime minister John Prescott is to make a cameo appearance in BBC comedy Gavin and Stacey.

BBC slammed for releasing Gavin & Stacey DVD

The BBC has 'devalued the licence fee' by releasing the new series of Gavin & Stacey on DVD before it has finished its TV run, critics said.

TV ratings: Gavin & Stacey pulls in 5m

BBC1 sitcom hit by stiff competition from ITV1's I'm a Celebrity.

Gavin And Stacey series 3 episode 2 review

A more satisying episode than last week's, as Gavin and Stacey sit back for a curry...

A top-notch Gavin & Stacey episode is a beautiful thing. It bathes you in a warm glow, thanks to its lovingly rendered quirks of family life - having a "messy drawer" or making an omelette with yesterday's beef - even as it folds you up with laughter. Tonight's plot is nothing fancy. There always needs to be an excuse to bring the Barry Island folk and the Billericayites together, and in this case it's a gathering planned at Mick and Pam's for a golf and spa weekend (for which we welcome back the beloved/dreadful Pete and Dawn). But before that gets going there's a Friday-night curry, the ordering of which takes about half the episode ("Gav - will you laugh at me if I have a korma?" etc). It's not just a nice riff on a modern ritual, it turns out to be about something else - why Nessa and Smithy belong together. Along the way there's a fine scene where Bryn puts on a fake job interview for Stacey, a hilarious passing reference to John Nettles, and Smithy's loving re-creation of a Kanye West rap, performed with his sister in a car park - and down the phone to Gavlahh. It's brilliant.

One of the sweet things about this series is how conventional Gavin and Stacey actually are. Last week, they decided to try for a baby, so by golly this week, that's what they're going to do - even if their friends and family keep getting in the way.

Just the simple act of ordering an Indian takeaway - as the Shipmans are trying to do tonight - can turn into a three-ring circus with this lot. They're not so much a family, as a herd, constantly migrating from one end of the M4 to the other.

While Nessa and Bryn steal the show again, this week with a fortune-telling business and a job interview respectively, tonight's other YouTube-worthy highlight sees Smithy and Rudi duetting on American Boy. You would be looking at James Corden a long time before you spotted any similarity between him and Kanye West but this duo should consider joining Pam on her Britain's Got Talent quest. And expect one more big development before the night is out.

Gavin and Stacey: series three, episode two

Trying for a baby, trying for a job - and trials for Dave Coaches.

How did they know the number? Within 11 minutes of Gavin settling into his new office in Wales, his family and friends were all ringing him on his work phone to find out how he was doing. Did he send them a text containing his extension - before he even knew how to work his office phone? Was it a round-robin e-mail? I mean, we all do it before starting a new job - send our family and friends the number. Or perhaps they looked up the switchboard number of the firm in the Yellow Pages and called there. I mean, there's no way they'd use his mobile phone number. The cost of calling some networks can be prohibitive.

Obviously, this was part joke/part characterisation. They're worried about him! They're making things worse! And really, it shouldn't be over-analysed because at least it was a joke, even if it didn't work. We should be grateful for its presence because Gavin And Stacey doesn't usually bother with jokes. As every newspaper will tell you, Gavin And Stacey is warm. (Warm is defined as 'a mawkish soap-opera similar in style to late series of Only Fools And Horses'.)

It's true that the rest of the show was searingly original - a swearing granny, the robot dance, Sheridan Smith as a young ******* and James Corden's heroic attempt to maintain his position as the most punchable face on television.

By tvBite's reckoning, there were three and a half jokes in the first episode. None of them were funny. None of them worked on their own terms (Gavin's phone number, how did Nessa only hear her baby through a monitor when it was on the other side of the bed?).

Still, there are unbelievable things that happen in real life. Who'd laugh at a show with no jokes, patronising characters (Yes, they ARE. Look at Pam Ferris and Nessa's fiance) and James Corden? What kind of world would shower this show with awards and claim it was well-written? It's total fantasy.

For all its BAFTAs, series three of Gavin & Stacey was about as fresh or contemporary as Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em. Sadly, it's all become a bit twee and stagey.

It began with Gavin starting his first day at work - an occasion that necessitated every other character to ring him up. "Hiya it's me, it's Stacey," announced Stacey - the Betty Spencer of the piece. "I know," grinned Gav, virtually rolling his eyes to camera. Mugging furiously, Rob Brydon (Bryn) even turned up to bring him a packed lunch!

James Corden meanwhile went into squealing pig mode, over-acting his socks off.
"I don't know who he is anymore! He's changed!" Smithy moaned preposterously. With Gavin & Stacey reduced to caricatures, this series should be called Dave & Ness who remained a masterclass in understatement. The baby was christened "Neil Noel Edmond Smith." The days when the vicar is due and the turkey isn't defrosted can't be far away.