The return of Gavin And Stacey

Ruth Jones, Joanna Page, Matthew Horne and James Corden in Gavin And Stacey (Photo: BBC)

The second series of Gavin And Stacey starts on BBC TV this month and both BBC News and The Observer have profiles of the comedy-drama's creators and stars, James Cordon and Ruth Jones.

Until the BBC insisted on expanding it into a series, Gavin & Stacey had been a one-hour, semi-improvised drama called It's My Day. Jones shows me the original treatment; based around the friends and families of Gavin West and Stacey Shipman (neither related to mass murderers as far as we know), it shows how the comedy evolved from being slightly crude to the sleek, sophisticated version that finally appeared on television. Jones and Corden had fun writing the treatment but neither took it seriously. 'We couldn't have been more casual,' says Corden. 'It was like playing dress-up,' explains Jones. 'We did all the voices ourselves, we acted out every scene."

Meanwhile, as The Times reports, the series has been picked up for an American remake by NBC.