The Bafta TV awards have been and gone. On May 11, the great and good of the TV world gathered for an evening of clapping people picking up smiling gold faces (or, indeed, mourning not doing so).
But among all the footage of the smiling stars collecting awards (often tearfully, or in the case of Danny Dyer, laden with expletives) was a glaring omission. A ‘what’s occurin’ sized omission, actually.
As Ruth Jones ascended the stage to grab her gong for Best Female Performance in a Comedy, the awards list seemed remarkably absent of other plaudits for one of the biggest shows to have ever gripped the nation: Gavin and Stacey.
"I weren't expecting to win this, no way. I've won a Bafta before, of course I have, in 1976,” Jones said on the night, as Nessa. "It was the Barry arcade fruity technician award and I was grateful for that but this, this is cracking."
She went onto add that she “really wasn’t expecting to win this,” and thanked “my dear, dear, talented, lovely, kind, funny friend, James Corden, with whom I have shared this astonishing journey with for the past 17 years and without whom Nessa Shanessa Jenkins would simply not exist.”
The fact she was even surprised to have won is telling, because Gavin and Stacey should surely be an awards juggernaut. And yet, the show missed out: apart from Jones, the only other category it was nominated this year for was P&O Cruises’ Best Moment.
It’s even more odd considering how beloved Gavin and Stacey is. Created way back in 2007 by Jones and James Corden, the show started life as a BBC Three sitcom telling the story of an unlikely couple from Billericay and Barry Island, and their increasingly eccentric families. Soon, it had become such a raging hit that it made its way onto BBC One, where it stayed.
It was a ratings barnstormer, and for good reason. Jones and Corden’s script was loaded with humour, but also with pathos. These characters (Mick, Pam, Smithy, Uncle Bryn) were larger than life and came loaded with iconic one-liners, but they also felt like people you could go for a pint at the pub with. The were versions of people that you knew from your own lives. It was relatable, British as anything, and was also credited with increasing tourism to Barry Island.
When it ended, its fans were left bereft. For years, we were told that the show was over; that Jones and Corden would not be returning for one last victory lap as Smithy and Nessa.
But happily, those rumours proved false. Amid feverish anticipation, the last ever (ever!) Gavin and Stacey episode aired on December 25, netting the BBC an audience of 12.3m viewers: the largest Christmas Day audience in more than a decade.
It was a cultural moment: more so given that families so rarely gather around the television set anymore to watch things together. Was there a dry eye in the house when Nessa left Barry Island for good, or when Smithy decided not to go through with his wedding? Or indeed, when the credits rolled for the final time over the sounds of the iconic theme song?
Though Jones’ award is richly deserved, Bafta’s decision not to honour the show by giving it more nominations is perplexing. And while the other nomination – for that Best Moment award – is nice, it’s not exactly the gong that most TV stars covet when they head along to the biggest awards night in British television.
And even then, Gavin and Stacey didn’t win: they lost out to Strictly Come Dancing’s Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell waltzing to You’ll Never Walk Alone. It’s voted for by the public – but seriously guys?!
Gavin and Stacey has never been a Bafta darling: over the course of its three-season run, the show only ever won two Baftas, in 2008, for James Corden (who won Best Comedy Performance) and the Audience Award. In 2009, Rob Brydon was nominated for the same award for his turn as Bryn, but it still seems like an odd decision for one of the most seminal shows of the last two decades to have never even been nominated for Scripted Comedy, Comedy Writer or even just Leading Actor/ Actress.
This oversight is all the more tragic given that there will never be another chance for the show to get the love it deserves. Who knows why? Maybe it defied categorisation, maybe it got unlucky; maybe nobody realised how great it was until it was over.
Well, nobody except the general public. Goodbye, Gavin and Stacey: king of our hearts, at least, even if not the Bafta stage.
