Sad truth behind the final ever photo of Gavin and Stacey cast makes it even more emotional

After a five-year wait, Gavin and Stacey returned to our screens with an epic Christmas finale that has already gone down in TV history.

The reunion, featuring the main cast and which tied up all of the loose ends - except, of course, what happened on that fishing trip - brought in an incredible 12.3 million viewers.

The episode opened with a wedding, with viewers assuming they would finally learn that Smithy (James Corden) had accepted Nessa's (Ruth Jones) proposal all of those years ago.

Instead, it transpired that Smithy was preparing to marry his girlfriend, Sonia (Laura Aikman).

Emotional scenes see the son of Smithy and Nessa perform a rendition of 'Blackbird', while Smithy comes to his senses and realises he loves Nessa - and sets off to win her back.

Though, the plot itself isn't the only emotional thing about the reunion.

The cast took part in a Q&A about the final ever episode of the beloved British sitcom, with Scott Bryan, a British film and TV critic, sharing a list of things that came to light during a Q&A.

He wrote on X: "The final day of filming was supposed to be Smithy in a car, but they moved the schedule around so the final day of filming was the final scene, when everyone was together.

“The sound department played the theme of the song, Stephen Fretwell's 'Run,' which moved cast to tears.”

The finale was a tearjerker (BBC)

Corden told GQ: "We really, really felt that the last day should be the last scene, and that the last line should be the last thing that we ever shoot."

Jones then added: “When she called cut on the very last take [the music began]… And that got us all going, as you can imagine."

If you need a refresher, the show ended with Stacey welling up and saying to Gavin: “God, Gav, I can’t believe it... Smithy and Nessa. Who’d have thought?”

Gavin replies: “I know. Only took them 17 years.”

Fans also learned how they managed to pull off the Sonia storyline without anyone getting an inkling.

Talking about the ending, and Sonia's involvement, Corden explained as per The Mirror: "I just wanted it to feel satisfying really. What was really interesting is after the 2019 special, all people would say to us was, what does he say? They would never say who did he choose.

The emotional final photo (BBC)

"I called Ruth and I was like, I wonder if we could trick everybody into thinking that for the first six or seven minutes that they're just going to watch a wedding between Nessa and Smithy. I remember so vividly having that chat with Ruth going, 'oh, I wonder if we could pull that off. I feel like we did'."

He added: "She stayed in different hotels. She was going into places in the dead of night. She's not part of any of this, such is her want to try and protect it.

"She actually promised to try and film her parents on Christmas Day. She hasn't even told them! And she's hoping to film her parents' reaction. She hasn't even said she's in it."