Gavin and Stacey Christmas special news a dream, says Joanna Page

Rumours of the show’s return were first reported by the US news outlet Deadline, external in February.

Jones later described the news of the special episode leaking early as “really mean”.

“James [Corden] and I wanted to give everybody a nice surprise and I think it was really mean that they leaked it,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour in May.

“Because also it meant that I had to lie to people, to friends and family, because they were all saying ‘is it happening?’

“And the reality is that until you have your cast booked, budget worked out, all of those things, you cannot say categorically that it is going to happen.”

Jones added that she was “thrilled” by how much people loved the show.

“We’ll have had five years away from it and people still seem to be excited and it’s a real compliment,” she added.