Gavin and Stacey’s chaotic night at the NTAs as show villain Laura Aikman goes barefoot on stage before Ruth Jones channels Nessa and declares she’ll celebrate win with a ‘pint of wine’

The cast of Gavin And Stacey enjoyed a chaotic night out at the National Television Awards on Wednesday night where they scooped a major gong.

It comes after their finale last Christmas where James Corden and Ruth Jones’ character Smithy and Nessa finally got married.

The BBC sitcom was voted Best Comedy by the viewing public, beating rivals Mrs Brown’s Boys, Brassic and Michael McIntyre’s 25th Year Stand-Up Special.

As the cast and crew made their way to the stage as the show’s iconic theme tune blared out in the O2 Arena, it was clear not everyone was there.

James Corden and Mathew Horne, two of its biggest stars, were unable to accept the gong.

However, Rob Brydon, Ruth Jones, Melanie Walters, Rob Wilfort, Laura Aikman and Larry Lamb accepted the award.

Speaking on stage, Larry warmly said: ‘When Ruth and James wrote Gavin & Stacey they created a family that can belong to us forever.’ 

The 77-year-old then passed the gong over to Ruth as he made way for her to speak.

However, embracing her alter ego Nessa, Ruth savagely said: ‘Yeah, all right, calm down. I’m going to the bar now for a pint of wine.’

Meanwhile, actress Laura, 39, appeared to lose her shoes as she walked on stage barefoot.

Snaps from the press room, where each winning nominee attends following their acceptance speech, showed the star still without her heels.

Laura had wowed in a sparkly silver minidress for the awards, while Ruth wore a sequined maxidress that featured a plunging neckline.

Alison Steadman also wore a maxidress, while Melanie Walters brought edge with a black plunging dress adorned with ruffles and a racy thigh high slit.

Gavin And Stacey’s win comes just days after it was revealed James and Ruth are working on a brand new comedy show. 

James, 47, and Ruth, 58, have signed a deal that will take the new project away from the BBC and instead onto streaming platform AppleTV+.

A source close to the production revealed that 10 episodes are set to be filmed with an all British cast, with Corden and Jones also starring.

Shooting will begin next year, with the episodes not set to land until 2027. 

However, the new show will not feature the iconic characters fans fell in love with on Gavin And Stacey.

Gary Lineker, This Morning and EastEnders were among the big winners on Wednesday night, as the stars of British TV descended on London’s O2 Arena for the 2025 National TV Awards.

Hosted by Joel Dommett for its 30th anniversary, the awards were televised on ITV1, with the winners voted for by the public.

And one of the biggest surprises of the night saw Gary finally bring an end to Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly’s 23-year winning streak, as the former footballer, 64, scored the win for Best Presenter.

The emotional presenter used his acceptance speech to take a pointed dig at his controversial departure from Match of the Day, as he declared it was ‘OK to speak up on behalf of those who have no voice’.

After 26 years, Gary presented his final show in May, after sharing a pro-Palestine Instagram video about Zionism featuring an emoji of a rat, which has anti-Semitic connotations. He apologised, but stepped down as host.

Speaking to the NTAs crowd, he admitted ‘it’s not lost on me why I might have won this award’, before ending his speech: ‘I think it demonstrates that perhaps it’s OK sometimes to use our platform to speak up on behalf of those who have no voice.’ 

While it was also a redemption evening for This Morning, who scooped the Best Daytime gong again two years after their bruising defeat to The Repair Shop.

It also marked the first win for new hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley, with Alison Hammond telling the audience how they had all been ‘humbled’ by the past two losses. 

And Strictly Come Dancing also came out champions, bagging Best Talent Show, despite a year full of scandals and controversies.

However, due to recording schedules for this year’s series, Tess Daly, Claudia Winkleman and the judges were unable to be there to collect the award.

Jeremy Clarkson’s smash-hit show Clarkson’s Farm also came out on top, with Jeremy taking the moment to make a quip to the audience about how he was on weight-loss jab Mounjaro. 

However, Stacey Solomon suffered a further blow following on from her BAFTA  snub earlier this year, as her factual series Sort Your Life Out missed out on an NTA gong again, while she also lost out on Best Presenter.

Meanwhile Liz Hurley and Rob Rinder announced this year’s winner of the Reality Competition was I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, with reigning King of the Jungle Danny Jones leading the 2024 cast onstage to accept.