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Rob Brydon has addressed what he believes is an often overlooked trait of one of his best-loved characters, Uncle Bryn from Gavin and Stacey.
The Welsh actor and comedian reprises his role in the forthcoming finale of the hit sit-com, which is set to air on Christmas Day.
Brydon will be joined by the show’s longtime cast, including show creators James Corden and Ruth Jones, plus Mathew Horne, Joanna Page, Larry Lamb, Alison Steadman and Melanie Walters.
The final episode will mark the first time fans have seen the characters together since 2019, when the last Christmas special aired.
Speaking to The Times, Brydon was asked about the “inherent sadness” of his character, “a closeted gay man who is alone despite the close-knite family around him”.
Brydon said he had never discussed Uncle Bryn’s sexuality with Corden or Jones, commenting: “I skip over these things quite lightly.”
“No one ever asks me about the aspect of him I like the most, which is his irascibility,” he continued.
“I love it when Bryn loses his temper. I do that in my own shows. It’s part of my stage persona – it comes from Don Rickles and Bruce Forsyth and Barry Humphries – and my audience likes me getting cross with them.”
Asked how he feels about the finale, Brydon remarked: “You can have a perfectly respectable career as an actor and never be in a bona fide hit. So I feel very lucky because it became a cultural phenomenon.
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“It gets mentioned. It gets referenced. It’s relatively easy, if you’ve got talented, people, to make something good… but it’s hard to make something great.”
In a recent interview with The Sun, Corden compared the pressure of meeting fan expectations for the finale to playing football for England.
“We started writing 20 years ago and it’s nuts, inconceivable, that it means more to people now than it did 20 years ago,” he said.
“I still feel pressure — there’s pressure all the time because you don’t want to let anybody down,” he added.
The 2019 Christmas special was a huge ratings hit for the BBC, drawing a total of 18.48 million viewers, which made it the most-viewed non-sporting broadcast in the UK in a decade, and the most-watched comedy in 17 years.
“I think it’s the closest you could get to being called up to the England team in terms of something meaning a lot to a lot of people,” Corden said.
“You are representing your country right now in a sense, you know?
“And so, it’s a lot… but we’ve really tried our absolute best.”
The Gavin and Stacey Christmas special will air on BBC One at 9pm on Christmas Day.
