James Corden said he thought Gavin & Stacey ‘might be shit’ after watching the first episode.
And it was Nicholas Hytner – former artistic director of the National Theatre who directed Corden in The History Boys and One Man, Two Guvnors – who convinced him it wasn’t as bad as he feared.
Speaking at the BBC Comedy Festival in Liverpool, Corden said: ‘I called him, and I said, "Nick, I'm in a bit of a bad way, and I need some advice. I've just watched the first cut of our show and I think it might be shit, and I don't know what to do". And Nick says, "Well how long is it? "I think it's half an hour."
‘And he said, "Are there three things you like?" "Well, the ending is OK. And there's another scene here, and I suppose [this other one] feels OK…"
‘He said, "If it’s the first time you've watched it, and there are three things you like, there are probably 10. And if there are 10 things you like over half an hour, that means there's one thing you like every three minutes. I'm not saying it's brilliant, but I'm telling you, it isn't shit."
‘I'll never forget that, it was maybe the best [advice]. I've held on to that.’
Corden and co-creator Ruth Jones also revealed their least favourite episode of the show was the second one. 'It’s a very, very, very bad half hour,’ Corden said: ‘It’s an awful episode.’
He explained that ‘we backed ourselves into a corner’ by having Gavin propose to Stacey at the end of episode 1, meaning they could have no big romantic gesture in the second instalment.
And he added that he and Jones weren’t sure of themselves as writers at that time, either. ‘We were conscious of this half-hour comedy thing and I don’t think we trusted that actually the characters will be the thing that will be funny,’ he said.
‘We tried to instead say we needed something funny in the scenes so we had Gavin jump the barriers when proposing, and be covered in lasers. In our head we were making a sitcom but we weren’t, we were making a character-driven story.’
He said that Gavin & Stacey became a success because the BBC had faith in it – commissioning the second series before the first had aired – which happens very rarely today. And he explained such a policy also helps mitigate the vagaries of which comedies become hits and which don’t
‘If Gavin & Stacey comes out six months earlier or six months later, there's a strong chance it just falls by the wayside,’ he said.
‘So many of those things are reliant on something which is irrespective of whether the show is good. There will be people in this room who have made extraordinary television shows, but for some reason… it just doesn't click in that moment.
‘Success is about timing. It's about mood. Culture, there is such an element of luck in it.
‘I really feel like the only way you can do it is if [broadcasters] believe in something, to commission two series straight and go, "We believe in this, and it's going to take time", and then you're not reliant on things like overnight [ratings] because comedy is a completely different beast, to drama, to documentary, any of those things.
‘There is an element of ownership, of discovery that we the audience, want to find comedies and share them with our friends more than big dramas.
‘I think we're very quick to dismiss comedies now in a way that we used to be. I mean, Gavin & Stacey got recommissioned before it aired.
‘Audiences need time, and they don't want to be force-fed. I think they have to discover it, and commit to it. You need to let your creations live in a world where [audiences] can discover it as it goes.'
He also said that Gavin & Stacey had the benefit of a rehearsal period before shooting that few comedies get.
‘I'm always constantly surprised that more TV shows don't rehearse before they shoot,’ he said. ‘It's often, I think, from a budget standpoint… because lots of producers or production companies or networks, channels, whatever it is, they can't see the money on the screen. They physically can't see it. But it's such a false economy.
‘What would happen, particularly on that show, is we would rehearse every single step of the show… we'd always have somebody taking notes, and then at the end of the day, you come together and go, "This feels too long", or "This doesn't feel right, I think this line should be over here, and this should be this…" which means by the time you get to the set, especially with a big ensemble, you're not having those moments having to figure something out.’
Jones agreed, adding: ‘What happens, from my experience is that you go to the read-through, and that's a really good opportunity to hear it out loud.
‘And if something's too long or not long enough, you have notes from the execs and everybody can input their thoughts. But actually, until you put it up on its feet, you don't know. There might be a line or a pause or something comes out of actually rehearsing. So he’s right, it's false economy.’
Corden also revealed that they ‘couldn't afford’ to make a title sequence for the show but realised that the black card and music ‘is really all it need.’
‘I think a lot about The Office,’ he said. ‘And I imagine if The Office was called Brent! and its theme was like a trombone and it was, you know, Ricky is David Brent driving to work and filling his car up and saying "hi" to someone. And then the show was exactly the same. It would feel like a completely different show.’
The pair – and their director Christine Gernon who was conducting the interview – ended the session by paying fond tribute to each other.
Jones said she and Corden ‘have very much a brother-sister relationship. I absolutely love him like a brother and a very, very dear, dear friend, and I would turn to him in times of trouble. He's always been there over our 25-year friendship’ – but admitted he could really irritate her sometimes.
Corden reciprocated by saying: ‘I could go to Ruth and there’s nothing I couldn't tell her and she wouldn't go "it's all right. It'll be okay. We'll figure it out." And over the years, both of you, for me personally, have been extraordinary friends and confidantes.’ But he also said Jones’s voice notes drove him mad.
Turning to Gernon, he said: ‘It is an absolute fact that Gavin & Stacey was written by two people, but created by three… There's not been a single time that Ruth or I didn't ever trust that you were going to deliver the show in the most extraordinary way.’
