AN EXTRA in the upcoming Gavin & Stacey Christmas Special has revealed secrets from the set – including how she knows there’ll never be another episode.
And revealed how she sneakily clocked a character not seen since 2010 was returning before filming began.
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Actor Linda Bailey – who also works as a Gavin & Stacey locations guide – was present for the first and last days of shooting, and was welcomed by star and co-writer James Corden.
She even cheekily asked if she could come to the wrap party as the cast finished the final scenes.
Out of the blue, Linda, from Rhonda Valley, had been contacted by her agent to see if she was free to work on a secretive production in Wales on September 2.
Speaking to the Sun, Linda said: “My agent sent me a text asking if I was available and then said I had to sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement). Then she came back with the code name.
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“It didn’t indicate that it was Gavin & Stacey, so I just put the postcode in my satnav and went along.”
When Linda arrived on the set – which she said was away from the show’s usual Barry filming locations – she was signed in and suddenly the penny dropped.
“James Corden came towards me and said ‘good morning’,” she explained.
“I went ‘oh my God, this is exciting!’ I realised I was on set on the very first day of filming.”
Linda is sworn to secrecy about any plot details – but claims she didn’t pick up much about what will happen in the episode anyway.
“I could have been put on a scene which would have given a lot of spoilers,” she said. “I wasn’t and I told my actor friends involved throughout the shoot not to tell me anything else.”
Linda was away on holiday for much of the rest of the filming, but returned to the set on the final day on October 7 – though this time as just a fan.
She saw all of the main cast coming out of The Tadross Hotel, which doubles as the show’s Dolphin pub, after filming their final scenes.
She explained: “They were tired, they’d had a very long day. They all come out in long coats covering up any costumes.
“But they were all smiley and doing selfies, and they were very engaging.
“I said to them ‘don’t I get invited to the wrap party?’ No,” she added, laughing.
Linda said she understands Corden and co-writer and fellow star Ruth Jones always wanted to film their final scenes at The Tadross.
“I spoke to the owner and he said they wanted to come here for the last day, because they like this location. They’ve used it twice before.”
She said people keep asking her if she thinks this will really be the final ever episode – with it having already come back after nearly a decade in 2019.
Linda – who also works as a tour guide for a popular Gavin & Stacey tour – said: “I’m like I’m not being funny, the clue’s in the title, it is the finale.”
She continued: “And not just that, I found when we were going to some of the locations (for the tour), for instance one of the pubs, some of the props they’d used they were then getting rid of. That says to me, this is the end.”
Linda also said any suggestion Cordon is difficult to work with were simply not true, based on her experience, describing him as “lovely and very friendly”.
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“I mean, you hear different stories in the press and what have you, but I’m the type of person where I’ve got to see for myself,” she said.
“I found him lovely and very friendly, not who am I? or anything like that.
“He was lovely, and apparently, my friend, who’s a chaperone on set looking after the three kids, you know Harri, Megan and Caitlin.
“She’d only met him for the first time, and she said, well, I’m saying the same as you, Linda.
“She said he was lovely. I don’t know where these rumors have come from, but it’s a load of tosh, he was fab.”
Linda said she was also told during shooting in the summer of 2019 for the previous episode, with temperatures soaring, Corden bought everyone ice cream and drinks from an ice cream van.
“They all had to be dressed in winter despite how hot it was, and this ice cream man was on the set,” she said.
“It was so hot on this particular day…I’m sure that ice cream man has retired now to Spain,” she joked.
GAVIN & STACEY TOUR
The Gavin & Stacey tour itself – operated by Brit Tours – is still going strong.
Due to a surge in popularity in the show, extra tours have been put on throughout December and have quickly been sold out.
Linda began training as an actor in 2010, and while attending workshops she signed up to agency Star Now.
She spotted an advert for a Gavin & Stacey tour guide and applied on a whim.
“If somebody said to me at that point, you’ll be doing this 13 years on I would never have believed them.
“I was just a fan of Gavin & Stacy when I applied to be a guide – I’d never been on set or anything.”
Linda is always shocked at how far people have travelled when they arrive for the tour.
“Where we pick them up, I usually ask them where they’re from, where they’ve travelled from, and that always astounds me.
“They come from far and wide – international travelers tool, and that’s amazing.”
She continued: “We get the hardcore fans as well, who could probably recite a lot of the dialogue. They probably know it a lot more than me.
“They’re the ones who want to know where the other places are that we can’t get to on the tour that day.”
Normally, the tours end in October but they’ve put on extra dates each Saturday from November 1 until December 21.
“This was prior to them actually confirming there was a finale,” Linda said. “As soon as the announcement was made, those tours sold out.”
Customers are always excited to see they’ll be travelling on the actual Dave’s Coaches, from the show itself.
“It’s a 34-year-old Mercedes coach, it’s really noisy,” said Linda – who goes by Sally from Rhonda Valley during the tour.
“It struggles to get up hills when we’ve got the full coach on.
“I say ‘at this point in the tour I normally say, can you all lean forward?’ And they all lean forward. ‘This will help the coach get up the hill’ – and they all laugh.”
Linda also revealed that the producers asked for the coach itself to use for the upcoming episode – meaning she had an inkling ‘Dave Coaches’ himself, played by Steffan Rhodri, was returning.
Dave – real name David Lloyd Gooch – was last seen at the end of series 3 in 2010, following his failed wedding to Nessa (Jones) and didn’t feature in the 2019 special.
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Linda said: “When we knew there was a finale coming I remembered that back in 2019 there was no sign of Dave or Dave’s Coaches.
“But in my head I was thinking, wouldn’t it be great now if Dave comes back into the finale?
“And in the meantime, in the last five years he’s done really well for himself, and he’s got a brand new coach.
“That was my wish, but I didn’t get it because production actually asked for the original coaches to be used. So it is going to be featured in the finale.”
She added: “We’re gonna have to hope and pray, fingers crossed it’s going to last for all the extra tours we’ve booked in for 2025.”
Linda loves to show off her acting prowess during the tours with impressions of Nessa and Uncle Bryn, played by Rob Brydon – and says guests “fully embrace it”.
The tour begins outside Barry Island Pleasure Park, there are then a couple of locations it passes before the first stop at The Tadross pub.
Then onto King’s Square, where Nessa was seen working as a human statue, and St Peter’s Church, where Nessa and Dave almost married, and Neil the baby was christened.
The tour then heads to Trinity Street, where the homes of Gwen (Melanie Walters), Bryn and Doris (Margaret John) are located.
Glenda Kenyon, who lives in Gwen’s home, often allows tour guests to come inside, where she has created a shrine to the show, including set photos and memorabilia.
Linda said couples are encouraged to put on masks of Nessa and Smithy (Corden) and re-enact the street proposal cliffhanger from the 2019 episode as part of a photo opportunity.
“We’ve even had a couple of real proposals, but the majority are just for fun,” she said.
“I bring a ring, and we’ve got a Smithy mask and a Nessa mask, and I go come on, ladies, you’ve got to go on your knees.”
My house was used to film Gavin & Stacey special – James Corden broke promise
A GAVIN & Stacey superfan whose home was used to film the upcoming Christmas Special said star James Corden broke his promise to her.
Glenda Kenyon’s terraced home in Barry, Wales, has been used to shoot the BBC sitcom since it began in 2007.
The 71-year-old’s house doubles as that of character Gwen, played by Melanie Walters – mum of titular character Stacey (Joanna Page).
Pensioner Glenda said she was called by a producer around a month before the cast and crew arrived to film the finale episode in September.
She was delighted to accommodate, even if it meant them completely redecorating and changing the furniture.
Referring to the filming, Glenda told The Sun: “They spent three days in the street and one day in the house.”
She added: “They took everything out of the living room, they repainted everything, they put a new border.
“At the end of filming they were giving away a lot of the stuff, so the brand new cream settees they used, I’ve got them now to keep.”
Asked if it still seems like her home when she watches on the TV, Glenda said: “It’s different ornaments and things, but it’s obvious it’s mine and I always tell people ‘that’s my house, look’.
“I’m watching it and saying ‘that’s mine, that’s mine’.
“I love the show, I’m always watching it.”
Glenda was first contacted about having her house used on the programme when they were scouting locations in 2006.
A TV company put letters through the door of several residents on the street, and initially she thought it was a wind up.
“I’m dyslexic so I took it down to my neighbour Marion. She read it, I made a phone call and that took a few weeks before they even came back.
“Then they have to come in and make sure all the measurements match up for what they want.”
Each time they’ve come to film the three series and Christmas Specials – the last in 2019 – Glenda has been offered a hotel, which she usually takes.
“This time I was away for three weeks,” she explained.
She said previously Corden, who plays Smithy as well as co-writing the show with fellow star Ruth Jones (Nessa), had promised to come visit her.
“Smithy was here when I was in the hotel. He did say to one of my friends he would come and see me. He hasn’t. I’m very disappointed to be fair,” she joked.
Asked about anything she can reveal about the final episode, she said she must remain tightlipped.
“There’s a lot of stuff about the show I don’t know – people try and ask me ‘do you know what’s going to happen?’ I have to tell them no, ‘I can’t tell you anything’.”
Glenda is originally from England but relocated to Cardiff at the age of 17 before moving to her home in Barry around 35 years ago.
She worked for 28 years in a factory assembling fruit machines.
Glenda’s home is also used as part of a Gavin & Stacey tour, operated by Brit Tours.
Currently, due to popular demand, they are running tours throughout December.
Glenda – who has created something of a shrine to the show in her house – often welcomes those involved inside, while a guide gives them the background.
“My home is always tidy,” she said. “Brit Movies pays for me to have a cleaner because I was struggling. There’s quite a few tours at the moment, but I’m happy for people to see the house.”
She added that tour customers even often want to have a selfie with her.
“I get embarrassed when they do that,” she said.
But Glenda does excite in showing them her collection of memorabilia, including photos from filming, and cast and crew thank you cards.
“I’ve got every T-shirt going upstairs, I’ve got tea towels, I’ve got the bags,” she said.
The tour itself often sees participants encouraged to pose for pictures outside on the street pretending to propose to their partners, mimicking the cliffhanger in the 2019 special.
And Glenda said she got the shock of her life when a man proposed to his girlfriend inside her home itself for real.
“I thought it was a wind up and he said ‘no, it’s not a wind up’,” she said. “I thought ‘blooming heck’, it was a shock.”
Doris actor John passed away aged 84 in 2011, and in tribute the occupants of her home allow people to stand in the doorway “putting the mask on of Doris and doing the cheeky finger”, said Linda.
The tour concludes at Marco’s cafe, which was featured in the very first episode, before a short walk to Nessa’s Slots arcade and the nearby Barry Island beach where Bryn impersonated Daniel Craig emerging from the sea in series three.
Mum-of-one and grandmother Linda has a number of minor acting credits to her name, and recently shot scenes for upcoming Tom Hardy action thriller Havoc, to be released in 2025.
She also previously appeared in an episode of Being Human as a dogger in the woods.
“I’ve done a couple of movies, they’re all filmed in Wales,” she said. “I’m just enjoying my little sideline as a mostly out of work actress.
“I only made it into the industry in 2014, but it wasn’t a career move. I’m not that ambitious, truth be told. I just wanna stay in Wales.”
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