The Gavin And Stacey finale secured the highest Christmas Day ratings since 2008, the BBC has said.
The emotional farewell to the popular sitcom, which saw characters Smithy and Nessa finally get their happy ending, drew an average audience of 12.3 million, according to overnight figures.
It surpassed the show’s 2019 Christmas special – which had an overnight audience of 11.6 million – by more than half a million viewers.
It was also the top viewed programme in the BBC’s schedule, with the new Wallace and Gromit film, Vengeance Most Fowl, in second place with an average overnight audience of 9.4 million, while the King’s speech attracted an average of 5 million viewers.
Fans had been eagerly anticipating the final instalment of the show for five years after the 2019 festive edition ended on a dramatic cliffhanger as Vanessa “Nessa” Jenkins (Ruth Jones) got down on one knee to confess her love for Neil “Smithy” Smith (James Corden).
The finale on Wednesday night kicked off in both Billericay, Essex, and Barry, South Wales, as the family of Stacey Shipman (Joanna Page) and her husband Gavin (Mathew Horne) prepare for a wedding – presumed to be between Smithy and Nessa.
However, fans were initially disappointed to discover the wedding was between Smithy and Sonia – his girlfriend from the 2019 Christmas Day episode – played by Laura Aikman.
Wednesday’s special revealed that Nessa’s previous proposal was interrupted before Smithy could give his answer and the pair never discussed it again.
Fast-forward to the wedding day and, after a series of bridezilla moments, ring bearer and best man Gavin tells Smithy during the ceremony that he thinks he is making a mistake marrying Sonia.
After many guests – including Neil the Baby, Smithy and Nessa’s teenage son – stand up when asked if anyone else objects to the marriage, Smithy realises he has to confess his true love and leaves Sonia a jilted bride.
The gang then embark on a race against time to reach Nessa before she sets off from Southampton Dock to work on the ships, as Neil the Baby is set to move to Essex to begin an apprenticeship with his father.
After a famously on-off relationship, Smithy proposes to Nessa and the final scene features a heartwarming montage of a low-key wedding, with Nessa sporting a black dress and the couple finally getting their happily ever after.
The series, written by Corden and Jones, originally aired between 2007 and 2010, and returned in 2019 for a special episode that at the time held the record for the highest overnight Christmas ratings since 2008.
The programme notched up another 5.5 million viewers in the following week, taking the audience to 17.1 million people, according to consolidated figures reported on January 2 2020.
It became the biggest scripted show of the decade, the most popular Christmas Day programme of the decade, and the ninth biggest transmission of the decade, the BBC said at the time.
It also won the Impact Award at the National Television Awards (NTAs) in 2020.
The BBC’s chief content officer, Charlotte Moore, said: “Christmas Day on the BBC brought people together in their millions and saw Gavin And Stacey triumph.
“Ruth Jones and James Corden created a magical finale that fans will treasure forever. Their exquisitely written comedy creation is a show all about family, love and joy and it proved to be the unmissable TV event of the year.”
– The documentary Gavin And Stacey: A Fond Farewell will be shown at 7pm on New Year’s Day on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
