Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.And so, once more unto the beach of Barry Island and the suburban sprawl of Billericay. Seventeen years since Gavin & Stacey emerged as a promising late-night BBC3 sitcom and five years since the last episode, the show finally comes to an end with a feature-length finale.It begins just as the first episode did, with the lovers giddily chatting on the phone. Once flirty remote coworkers, they are now long-married parents relishing the prospect of a weekend away from the kids. “It’s not just me and you,” Gavin (Mathew Horne) reminds Stacey (Joanna Page), perhaps superfluously. It never is with these two. More than an Essex boy meets Welsh valleys girl story, Gavin & Stacey has always been about the unlikely union of the couple’s meddlesome families and their respective best friends (played by series creators James Corden and Ruth Jones). Repulsed by yet irresistibly drawn to one another, affable lad Smithy (Corden) and woman-of-mystery Nessa (Jones) have been the source of continuous will-they-won’t-they tension for almost two decades. The previous episode (2019’s Christmas special) ended with Nessa proposing to Smithy. Five years on, the whole gang are congregating in Essex for the latter’s wedding. To whom though? The show is suspiciously coy about that until the delayed reveal. If the finale is designed to take fans on a teasing, emotional ride, then it also serves as a gentle trip down memory lane. Corden and Jones pack the 90 minutes with a vast array of in-jokes and references. There are omelettes and robots; an Uncle Bryn (Rob Brydon) showdown involving Pete and Dawn, the tempestuous neighbours played by the scene-stealing Adrian Scarborough and Julia Davis; an erotically charged conversation about KFC corn-on-the-cob; and a last tease of the infamous, unexplained “fishing trip” scandal.Callback comedy makes for easy fan service but the material here is elevated by the affection everyone evidently still has for their characters, the vitality they bring as performers, and the chemistry they share as an ensemble.For all the joy and whimsy, there is naturally a bittersweetness that runs throughout. People are changing, moving on, growing up, settling down. Smithy’s stag do — “the biggest day of my life” — proves a sobering moment for his friendship group who, ailing with gout and migraines, admit they’ve aged. Elsewhere, a heartfelt speech given by Gavin’s laconic father Mick (Larry Lamb) packs an unexpected punch.Corden and Jones keep things the right side of mawkish, though sentimentality prevails in the episode’s last act, which is just as shamelessly crowd-pleasing as you’d expect. It’s the kind of all-resolving ending we’ve seen in countless romantic comedies going back to Shakespeare. And while Gavin & Stacey might not be quite as timeless, it’s hard to deny its status as a piece of British TV heritage. ★★★★☆On iPlayer now
