Larry Lamb admits he’d love to return to Gavin and Stacey

Gavin and Stacey star Larry Lamb has explained he understands the public’s love for the hit BBC comedy, comparing it to a ‘drug’.

Larry, 72, discussed his role as Mick Shipman during an appearance on Monday’s Loose Women, telling the ITV show he has no word yet on whether there will be a follow up to the hugely successful Christmas special episode.

17 million people tuned into the 2019 episode, with rumours that a big screen film may be in the works.

Larry admitted the question of if there will be more to come from the James Corden and Ruth Jones created show, is something he’s grown used to answering.

‘This is very interesting because I remember talking to James, just to drop a huge name, about the whole thing of being asked for 10 years, “is there going to be another Gavin and Stacey”, so you do the Christmas special, then all that happens is you’re back answering that same question’. 

‘It’s kind of like a drug the nation is completely hooked on. I don’t know if there is [a film]. I’d love it if there is, it’s become a real part of my life. If there is, it means I can say yes instead of I don’t know.’  

Larry previously dubbed the 2019 Christmas episode ‘cruel’, when it was left on a cliffhanger proposal between Corden and Jones’ characters Smithy and Nessa. 

He told OK! Magazine: ‘I think it would be pretty cruel to leave us on that cliffhanger. After the response it got at Christmas, you can more or less be certain that, sooner or later, there will be more.

‘I’m sure the BBC can persuade Ruth [Jones] and James [Corden] to write more, so it’s a question of when, not if.’

Larry added that the schedules of the cast make it tricky to secure a full series – and that another one-off is more likely.

Speaking on Loose Women, Larry also admitted James Corden’s success as a talkshow host in the US has not surprised him.  

‘James is a phenomenon, he’s been doing it for years. It’s timing, in this game it’s all about timing. The talent’s always been there,’ he insisted.

‘It’s interesting after knocking about for years since he was a young lad, it’s something that he and Ruth generated themselves that turned into this phenomenon. And then what he did, because he’s a very canny fella, he just took what he had and moved along with it. He’s a very canny boy.’