James Corden did not hold back when asked about his least favorite episode of Gavin and Stacey at the BBC Comedy Festival. His verdict on Season 1, Episode 2 was direct.
"It's a very very very bad half hour," he said. "It's an awful episode."
According to Deadline, Corden explained that the problem began at the end of Episode 1, when the show's lead character Gavin proposes to Stacey, a romantic moment that left him and co-creator Ruth Jones with nowhere natural to go. "It had this very romantic end, so you can't do another romantic proposal [in the next one]," he said.
Episode 2 of the first series centers on a phone misunderstanding that sends Gavin driving to Wales to sort out the relationship. Corden said at the time, neither he nor Jones had fully understood what kind of show they were making. "We were conscious of this half-hour comedy thing and I don't think we trusted that actually the characters will be the thing that will be funny," he said. "We tried to instead say we needed something funny in the scenes so we had Gavin jump the barriers when proposing, and be covered in lasers. In our head we were making a sitcom but we weren't, we were making a character-driven story."
Jones, appearing alongside Corden at the festival, offered her own explanation for the episode's shortcomings, joking that there is "very little Nessa" in Season 1 Episode 2.
Corden said the episode's one saving grace was the introduction of characters Dawn and Pete, played by Julia Davies and Adrian Scarborough, whom he ranked among their greatest creations, alongside Pam, played by Alison Steadman.
Beyond his self-critique, Corden used the festival appearance to make a broader case for how comedy is commissioned. He argued that platforms should greenlight two seasons at once rather than waiting on overnight ratings to determine a show's fate. "I feel like the only way is to commission two series and say, 'We believe in this and it's going to take time and you can't rely on overnight ratings'," he said. "There is an element of ownership and discovery to comedy that we the audience want to find comedies and share them with our friends."
Gavin and Stacey itself received that kind of support from the BBC, which ordered a second series before the first had aired. Corden questioned whether that would happen today. "They said it doesn't matter how many people watch this, we believe in it and want to commission it again," he said of the BBC. "Commissioners have to treat comedy in a different way. It can create stars overnight but audiences need time and don't want to be force fed."
He also pointed to timing as a factor beyond anyone's control. "If [Gavin & Stacey] came six months earlier or later there's a chance it doesn't work," he said. "We are so programmed to think about success but success is about timing, mood, culture, and there is such an element of luck in it."
The show's Christmas Day finale in 2024 became the most-watched TV program in the UK that year, drawing an eventual audience of more than 20 million viewers. Corden and Jones have since moved from the BBC to Apple TV+.
