Gavin and Stacey - first time I've watched it! No spoilers please!

[BurntBroccoli]

I'm not sure why I never watched this back in 2007, but have finally started watching this evening!
Up to the one where they just got married.

Smithy is a horrible character but I love, love, love Nessa!

I really felt for her when she was homesick.

Smithy girlfriend is said to be 17 1/2 in the first series so she’s a teen but it’s not dreadful.

Stacey didn't even give it much of a go in Essex though .. too wrapped up in getting her own way all the time

Just one more to go the Christmas Spesh 2019.
This scene though where the lads stay at Bryn's and he's turned his house into a boy's own den 😂
Bryn
“It’s exactly the effect I wanted and more!
I feel like Fagin!
And you Gav, are my Oliver Twist
Standing next to the Artful Dodger”

Yeah, she’s spoilt and he’s thoughtless.

Playing devil's advocate for Stacey here...
Her mum is a widow so maybe there's some guilt about leaving her, whereas Gavin's parents are happily married. More of an emotional burden in leaving her lovely mum.

Yes how old is Smith's girlfriend supposed to be? He keeps going on about Guides and gymkana events so she must be very young?
Seems quite seedy.

In the first series she is 17 1/2.

She's a sixth former.

The guides thing is part of the running joke but I am sure she is sixth-form (17 and three quarters), and you can be a young leader at guides I guess. She sounds like the sort to be one. It's also a social observation. When I was at school there were Smithys hanging around the school gate.

She’s a helper at Brownies/Guides, not an actual Girl Guide!

Wow didn't realise that at all!
She hasn't changed much - saw her on Strictly at the weekend!

@magicalmrmistoffelees
Ah right!
Still pretty young though at 17.

Ruth jones is late fifties now she looks amazing. In the first series Stacey mentions they have been friends since she was 14 at which point Nessa was 32!!

Smithy's girlfriend was almost 18.

Also depressing to discover that gwen was 46 in the first series which is my age!!!

I know! Like I said up thread, at the time of broadcast I was 3 years older than Stacey and now I’m 3 years older than Gwen was!

(That’s the age of the actress anyway, Gwen could well be older. How old is Jason? That said she could have had Jason at 18/20 or so, so being 46 wouldn’t have been out of the question).

I noticed in the episode where Mick is on TV they all take the piss about him being described as 53, so he's obviously meant to be a bit older than that. Which means if he's just retired in the new special, he carried on going well into his 70s! Mind you, he is very virile.

@TheDowagerCountessofPembroke yes I think gwen must be a bit older than the actress otherwise she would have had stacey at twenty and her brother before that.

She just looks so middle aged!!!

Mick and the giant ears just killed me off 😂

Stacey and her not taking the pill, just shitty.

It is all quite seedy but when I was at school quite a lot of the girls 16/17 had older boyfriends 🤮 clearly not acceptable but no one gave a shit. Bearing in mind this was also the era old men could ogle the naked breasts of 16 year olds on page 3

In the last Christmas special when Gwen gives out the photos and she gives Stacey one of her and Nessa - Stacey says she was 17 and Nessa says that would make her around the 35 mark

She could have had Jason at 18 I guess, but he looks somewhat older than Stacey.

I always wondered what Gwen and Bryn did for money. They never mention jobs but they are far too young for retirement. Stacey’s Dad would have died young because Gavin and Stacey married on what would have been his 50th birthday. I do imagine Stacey would struggle living away from home. Her Dad passed away, her brother lives abroad, she had rarely been away from home before they got married. It’s clear they didn’t discuss moving in together and the future when they got engaged.
The Smithy/Lucy relationship is definitely seedy but it doesn’t sound like they actually spend much time together. Her parents were probably delighted when she found out he got someone else pregnant! I had a friend who dated a 30 something when she was 17. Not illegal but 😬 it was not a healthy relationship.

I still think of G&S as about 25. It feels weird that they’re middle-aged now.

I thought Ruth Jones was about 45.

I always wondered what Gwen and Bryn did for money. They never mention jobs but they are far too young for retirement.

Yes, me too. Out of Bryn, Gwen, Pam and Mick, Mick seems to be the only one with a job.

I was thinking that today.
I can see Pam being a SAHM and never going back to work. It’s possible that Mick earns enough for that to work.

It’s possible that Gwen’s husband had life assurance that would have paid out and cleared the mortgage when he died but that wouldn’t cover everything, she’d still need some money coming in.

No idea about Bryn.

Unless, Bryn and Trevor were brothers. No grandparents have ever been mentioned. Perhaps they died and left enough for Bryn and Trevor to live on, followed by Gwen when Trevor died.

Perhaps Jason sends money home too.