Gavin & Stacey Stars Ruth Jones and Damon Albarn to Celebrate Shipping Forecast Centenary

Gavin and Stacey Star’s Special Appearance

Gavin and Stacey star Ruth Jones and Damon Albarn from Blur are set to present the Shipping Forecast, which is the Met Office’s broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas surrounding the UK.

Nessa’s Final Appearance

Jones will make her last appearance as Nessa from the BBC Radio 4 sitcom on New Year’s Day (January 1) to commemorate the Met Office’s 100th anniversary.

She stated: “Nessa has quite a colorful history and one of her jobs was on the high seas. The delivery forecast has always been extremely important and useful for her.”

This event follows the finale of Gavin and Stacey, which aired on Christmas Day (December 25) and featured Smithy (James Corden) preventing Nessa from returning to her work on ships after following her to Southampton Dock. In a pivotal scene, he also proposed to her on a boat.

In addition to Jones, Damon Albarn will join Stephen Fry and Line of Responsibilities star Adrian Dunbar. “Delivery Forecast” inspired the lyrics for the Blur song “This A Low”.

The service was first broadcast on January 1, 1924, as a weather bulletin called Weather Shipping, before transitioning to the BBC a year later, reports BBC News.

Fan Reactions and Show Highlights

Meanwhile, fans of Gavin and Stacey have praised the sitcom’s finale, with one describing the episode as “iconic” and another emphasizing that the show is a “staple of British heritage”.

The highly anticipated episode arrives five years after the last special concluded on a cliffhanger with Nessa proposing to Smithy.

Additionally, Gavin and Stacey star Laura Aikman shared her family’s reaction to her role in the show’s finale.

Aikman, who portrayed Sonia – Smithy’s girlfriend and later fiancée – returned for the finale and managed to keep the surprise from her family.

The finale of the BBC sitcom drew an average of 12.3 million viewers, marking its largest Christmas audience in over a decade.

Reports about the finale initially leaked in February, and it was officially confirmed by Jones and Corden in May. Filming took place in September and October.