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!

Gwen does live very frugrally. Only eats eggs. And has very old towels!

Bryn refers to Trevor as leaving her a ‘penniless widow’ although there is mention of his gambling and drug habits..possibly there was family money, enough for Bryn to buy his home and live comfortably (he is fairly frugal too) enough for Gwen to have their home (say life insurance) but not to have much spare 🤷🏻‍♀️

So how old was Nessa when she had Neil the baby?
I thought she was about 42 but she must have been more mid to late 40,s
So pushing 60 in the last Xmas special, smithy must be about 20 years younger ?

Well Stacey was what 24 when she met Gav so would have been probably 25 when Nessa had Neil. So about 43?

And I think Smithy was about 27/28

Nessa is clearly ageless. Born age 35 stayed age 35 while others age. She clearly was never a teenager.
Hope she’s still 35 in the Christmas special!

Considering Stacey’s lot are a very ordinary working class South Wales family, I can’t imagine there being family money setting both Gwen and Bryn up for life.

I think Bryn’s lack of job is a bit of a plot hole tbh! Or it’s just supposed to be implied that Bryn does work, we just don’t ever hear about it.

I’m dissatisfied with Stacey’s career trajectory - and questioning her level of education, which can only be down to her mother.

When we first meet her in S1 she has a desk job, in an office. Presumably it was low level admin work - though she had enough responsibility to be able to make phone calls to other companies.

Once they’re married she moves to Essex and can’t find a job. Returns to Wales - and from then on can only get the most unskilled NMW jobs like selling food from a beach kiosk.

Was that the writers emphasising how hilariously ditsy and underachieving this particular woman is, or are they making a wider point which encompasses Gwen and Bryn as well? Clearly we never see Nessa engaged in any high level career - but her educational background is a bit more mysterious, to the extent that one wouldn’t be surprised to hear her begin a sentence with When I was researching for my Ph.D …

Stacey had the job in M&S as well. Like you say though, having an office job in the past should have set her up for something else.

As an aside, I’ve just rewatched the whole thing. I recall John Prescott actually showing up at one point. Was that Nessa’s wedding? I didn’t notice him this time.

Yes, he came to Nessa’s wedding. I knew John Prescott (I realise I sound like Nessa) and that would have been a total joy for him to do.

I think there’s a general disconnect from the real world in G&S in terms of jobs. Mick runs his own company and is well off. Gavin has his random job. The Welsh lot are a mystery but it’s never bothered me.

I’ve just checked again, and yes he does. I must have been looking the other way this time.
Its great he shows up as it gives real credence to what Nessa says.

I love that it is never mentioned what job Gavin does.
Bryn and Gwen both might well work but it’s never really mentioned.
Nessa does talk about being a news story producer for the BBC and falling out with Kate Adie.

I wonder if they check with people before they are mentioned.

I think there’s a general disconnect from the real world in G&S in terms of jobs.

Agree. But also, I never found myself questioning why Stacey went from office job to retail to hospitality. I know people like her, struggling to settle in anything, chopping and changing. I think, like a lot of WC people, Stacey had little to no career aspirations and jobs were a means to an end.

Was that the writers emphasising how hilariously ditsy and underachieving this particular woman is, or are they making a wider point which encompasses Gwen and Bryn as well? Clearly we never see Nessa engaged in any high level career

I think it probably made quite a realistic point about the limited opportunities available to people living in seaside towns, which are notoriously deprived.

I'm struggling to think what Mick's dark side is - he's so lovely!

Nessa is mentioned as being an older mum when she gives birth I think but it's part of the joke that's she's ageless.

Ruth Jones is lovely looking in real life, Nessa's hair and outfits are so unflattering but obviously that's also the point.

I’m a couple of years older than Stacey. At the time this is set I struggled to get a job, and I have a degree. I did a host of minimum wage jobs at that time.
The difference was that in 2002, DH and I managed to buy a house on two NMW jobs.

I thought that Stacey would get a job working with Gavin in wales tbh!
They originally worked for the same company at the start
Unless I missed something, maybe she was made redundant ?

I thought she worked for a company that supplied stuff to Gavin’s company. There was a comment really early on from Gavin’s boss about chasing up an order.

Yeah I watched it last night and Noel from hearsay waa there as Doris,s date 🤣

She resigned when they got married and when they moved back the company was closing down due to the recession.

Definitely this!
In the 2019 Christmas special she looked exactly the same! Gwen has aged like a fine wine too (and Smithy).
The others are visibly older which is weird when you've watched them all back to back for the first time!

It's at Nessas wedding he literally walks in the church and says hello to Dave. It's only a few seconds.

There's quite a few name drops. At one point Stacey says Kevin Spacey proposed to her! I'm guessing they didn't ask him!

I remembered that, but I didn’t see on my most recent rewatch, so I wondered if it had been removed. However I went back and had a look again today and it was there.

@TheDowagerCountessofPembroke
Yes John Prescott is still there at the church 😁

Right I've rewatched all of them now. So, when all's said and done, at the end of the day... I am soooo ready for Christmas Day now!

Didn’t some of them make money on the markets? Nessa and Doris were talking about how their Tokyo Stock Exchange investments were going.

I suspect Bryn has a low-level role somewhere which pays enough for his modest lifestyle.

I doubt that Barry is a particularly cheap place to buy a house these days being close to Cardiff (not that I’m a property expert!) but it would’ve been in the early ‘80s I guess.