IT was the most eagerly awaited sitcom return, as viewers wondered whether Nessa and Smithy would tie the knot.
But in the end, it was long-suffering Mick Shipman who stole the show in last year’s Gavin & Stacey Christmas special tear-jerker.
Played by Larry Lamb, Gavin’s loveable dad Mick started the waterworks with his heartfelt speech at Smithy’s stag do.
And it gave the 77-year-old actor some of his best times on the BBC series, written by James Corden and Ruth Jones.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Larry, who was in the show from the first episode in 2007, says: “That was my favourite Mick moment.
“It was a struggle to contain the emotion. You get caught up in it. It was absolutely brilliant writing.
“What James and Ruth managed to do at the end of that great long run was nothing short of a masterpiece.
“They managed to draw in all those little ends, combine them beautifully and leave you a satisfied customer.
“When we started the show, all those boys at the stag do were young lads, and now they’re all pushing 50, so I feel like I’ve watched them grow up on and off screen.”
In his moving stag do speech, Mick likens Smithy, played by Corden, to a second son, saying: “Smithy, I never thought I’d see the day when you of all people became a married man.
“It only feels like yesterday I was picking you and Gavin up from Cubs. I know some of you know this, but Pam and me, we tried for some time to have another baby, and it was tough for a while, heartbreaking some days, because it didn’t happen.”
Sex symbol
It is one of the moments that has made Larry an unlikely sex symbol for millions of fans.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”James Corden reveals Gavin and Stacey was almost ditched in 2019 – five years before final episode” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6366602560112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]Women regularly approach him in the street to declare their love, convinced he is just like his ever-patient on-screen persona.
He says: “They don’t send me knickers or raunchy letters in the post. People will just come up and say, ‘God, I love you, you know’.
“It’s nice if you’re my age and people still say that. Well, OK, fine. I’m not gonna knock it back.”
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Having spent so long playing loyal husband Mick, Larry says the role has rubbed off on him.
“In the end, the really good, balanced side of Mick started to permeate into me,” he explains.
“I am a quieter, calmer person. It’s really interesting in the way that’s happened, that I’ve taken on some of that calmness and that same easygoing kind of thing.”
Larry found himself having to channel his inner Mick while filming the final episode, which was watched by more than 19million people over Christmas 2024, five years after the previous festive special aired.
The veteran actor had to take charge to rein in hysterical castmates when filming descended into farce and led to some scenes having to be re-shot more than 70 times.
[quote credit=”Larry Lamb”]While it’s sad because it’s such a wonderful thing, you kind of feel it is time. It had a wonderful beginning, it had a wonderful middle and we had a glorious, climactic end, but that is the end of it[/quote]He recalls one incident when Alison Steadman, who plays on-screen wife Pam, and Julia Davis, who portrays their friend Dawn, dissolved into fits of giggles.
He explains: “Julia said something that got Alison giggling, and that got everybody else giggling, and then it just went on and on. And then all of a sudden, everybody blows up.
“It just got more and more and more chaotic, to the point where the director said to me, ‘For God’s sake, just be Mick and shout at them all, will you?’.
“So that’s what I did. I stood up and shouted at them all. I said, ‘Just shut up here. We’ve got to get this’.
“Because the problem is, it’s all very well having a laugh, but then it all becomes hysterical. You can only go so far with it because it’s got to be done because the clock is ticking.
“Some of those scenes had to be done more than 70 times over to get it right from different camera angles and points of view.
“And so in the end a bit of the fun goes out of it.”
Now, Larry stays in touch with the gang via a WhatsApp group, but fans will be disappointed to hear the chat is quite mundane.
“A bit of banter goes on,” he says.
“If somebody says something that people find funny, they’ll all put silly expressions on. But it’s very, very workaday. It’s just a bunch of people that work together.”
[quote]The stag night speech was my favourite Mick moment. When we started the show those boys were young lads. I’ve watched them grow up on and off screen[/quote]Larry insists there will definitely not be another Gavin & Stacey special, adding: “While it’s sad because it’s such a wonderful thing, you kind of feel it is time. It had a wonderful beginning, it had a wonderful middle and we had a glorious, climactic end, but that is the end of it.
“It was a piece of fiction and we all loved it, and it came to an end.”
Now Larry is campaigning for better end-of-life care for people living with a terminal illness, a project that is personal to him following the death of his brother, Wesley.
Had MPs in stitches
After Wes was diagnosed with throat cancer, the estranged brothers reconnected during the last week of his life and patched up their long-running rift.
Larry slept in the same room to be by his side round the clock until the end at the Marie Curie Hospice in Newcastle.
He recalls: “We had drifted apart over the years. We were very close when we were boys, but into adulthood we just didn’t stay pals — our lives had gone different ways.
“The people at the Marie Curie Hospice were just extraordinary for those final weeks. I was welcomed in as a part of the family.
“They made a bed for me in his room, and as best we could because he couldn’t speak any more, and despite the seriousness of the situation, we joked and we laughed.
“He was always the jokey boy. When we were young, if anybody had ever thought one of us would finish up in the entertainment business, it would have been him.
“It was the first time in well over 60 years that we’d shared a bedroom together. We were back to being two little boys.
“It was such a strange thing, just an extraordinary way of seeing him off.”
Now the former EastEnders actor is urging politicians to ensure everyone has the expert care they need at the end of life.
When Larry went to the House of Commons to support Marie Curie’s annual Great Daffodil Appeal, more than 90 MPs queued up to meet him because they were Gavin & Stacey fans. And he had them in stitches by mimicking their accents.
Larry says: “There’s an awful lot of politicians that are fans, it’s quite extraordinary.
“They were absolutely enchanted to meet someone from Gavin & Stacey, they just wanted to meet some old geezer off the telly.”
Larry also discussed his debut novel, which will be published next month. All Wrapped Up takes a behind-the-scenes look at the struggles of shooting a blockbuster movie amid political turmoil on a Caribbean island.
He explains: “I wrote an autobiography in 2010, which was a bestseller, and people said I should try to write a novel, but it just wasn’t in me then.
“But I’ve carried an idea around for years and years, ever since I was working in the oil and engineering business in Eastern Canada and became a very, very keen amateur actor.
“My first attempt meandered because I didn’t know where I was going, but in the end these characters just came out the end of my fingers.”
Larry can next be seen in Channel 5 drama The Feud and then he plans to take it easy.
He adds: “I just don’t have the energy. I’m the elder statesman now.”