James Corden shares first look at new Gavin & Stacey as filming finally starts

James Corden has shared the first look at the return to Gavin and Stacey.

The writer/actor has posted on Instagram, with the caption: "Day 1. Here we go x".

The episode will be the final one of the series, airing this Christmas.

The picture showed a car with an advert for Smithy’s business which read: “Smithy’s – if your husband won’t do it I will… tillin, roofin, plasterin, and feng shui.”

Fans on Instagram were ecstatic at the update on filming, with one commenting:

“I am SO EXCITED! If he doesn’t marry nessa im going to kick off!”

Viewers have been waiting for the episode after the last episode we saw ended on a huge cliffhanger.

Nessa, played by Ruth Jones who co-writes the show with Corden, proposed to Smithy following the birth of their son, confessing her love for him.

One fan commented: “All these years, you'd have thought smithy would get a new car 😂. Can't wait though, more excited for this than Christmas itself”.

Another said: “Screw the fishing trip, screw the wedding, let's just have the best Christmas special for the ages!! Forget Oasis, THIS IS HISTORY”.

Across Oasis, Gavin and Stacey, and the final hurrah of The Grand Tour, it has been a dramatic week for reunions and fairwells in British media.

The final episode was announced earlier this year by James Corden, who said: “Some news… It’s official!!! We have finished writing the last ever episode of Gavin and Stacey. See you on Christmas Day, BBC One. Love Ruth and James.”

Corden spoke earlier this year on Chris Evans' breakfast show about the final episode, saying: "We finished a script a while back and it was too long… rewrites are harder than any writing.

“Rewriting is really difficult. Writing is really fun, because you can just go ‘anything can happen’.

“But when you rewrite stuff, you’re dealing with a lot of logistics and ‘well look we might not be able to shoot that, or this needs to be in this location, is there any way this can change?’ And frankly, it’s too long.”

“So really what we have been doing the last few weeks really is just trying to make it as economical as possible. And we finished [the script] yesterday.”

He continued saying: “We’ve finished writing, we will never write anything that Pam (Alison Steadman’s character) says again…

“We will never come up with an interesting thing that Bryn has done and we just looked at each other and we were just like, ‘Ah, isn’t that amazing?’

"To even have the luxury of deciding to end it and to be in a position where people still care.

“It’s inconceivable to us – all of it. I just feel very emotional by all of it. Everything.”