I visited Barry – home of Gavin and Stacey – as filming continues for BBC TV Christmas special

Because Christmas (there, I said it) 2024 is going to feature the TV highlight of the decade, possibly the century!

As was announced a few months ago, Gavin and Stacey is back for one last hurrah – and I couldn’t be more pleased about it.

Yes, it’s nice that Father Christmas comes on December 25 and brings presents for all the children (blah, blah, blah) but all I really want for Christmas is to know if Nessa and Smithy got married.

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I’ve been a MASSIVE Gavin and Stacey fan for years, and hearing the show was returning was the best possible news.

Coincidentally, it came just a few weeks after my husband and I had booked a night’s stay in Barry(’s Island) for this summer, for the sole purpose of looking around all the sights that have become so familiar thanks to the show.

Now, with filming for the show currently underway in the south Wales seaside town ahead of the final episode, it seems like a great time to unashamedly share details of that trip with you.

My husband is Welsh, and so we drive to south Wales several times a year. I think that’s why Gavin and Stacey resonates so strongly with me. The story of a relationship between an English guy and a Welsh girl, played out through trips up and down the M4 (I will agree with Gavin and Nessa that Leigh Delamare services is indeed ‘first class’ and ‘second to none’), is very similar to my own situation.

But, despite my repeated pleas to my husband for us to stop off in Barry (the home of the beloved BBC sitcom) for the past 17 years, we had never found the time. Until now...

So, it was with almost fever-pitch excitement that we finally found our way there on our trip to Wales in August.

Part of me hoped we might get super lucky and find the cast were actually there filming the show when we arrived. Alas, it turns out we were a couple of weeks early as it is actually in production now.

Nevertheless, it was still such a treat to visit Trinity Street, where Gavin and Stacey were living in Doris’s old house by the most recent Christmas special, and to see Gwen’s house and Uncle Bryn’s house.

Less of a treat was walking up it – wow it is steep! – but you are rewarded with lovely views over the coast when you’re near the top.

En route to Barry we had also made a quick stop down the road in Dinas Powys, where the ‘Essex’ home of Pam and Mick is actually based.

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And then it was onto the island. As we walked along the promenade I could almost hear the Gavin and Stacey theme tune in my head. It was so strange how a place I have never been to before could feel so, so familiar.

We saw the fairground, home of the log flume and the infamous ghost train.

We stepped on the very same sand where Uncle Bryn had his ‘Daniel Craig moment’ and Smithy got stuck in a rubber ring.

We visited the arcade where Nessa works – now renamed as Nessa’s Slots.

We got chips from Boofys, and sat and ate them where Gavin, Stacey, Smithy and Nessa sit under the arches in the final episode of series three.

We had an ice cream at Marco’s Café, where Stacey works (couldn’t see any Irn Bru, though).

I’ve never been a particular super fan of anything, and I’ve definitely never toured the sights of a TV show or movie before. But this show has become such a family favourite in our house that I’m so glad we did it.

Our timing for this trip couldn’t have been better with the excitement for the Christmas special building. We basically lived our absolute best Gavin and Stacey lives. I’d recommend a trip to the island to anyone.