Neil the Baby reveals how he reacted when he got the call for the Gavin and Stacey finale & fans are all saying the same
GAVIN and Stacey star Oscar Hartland has revealed exactly how he reacted when he got the call to reprise his role for the show’s finale.
Oscar, now 17, first appeared as Smithy and Nessa’s son, the affectionately named Neil the Baby, in the 2008 series two finale, when he was one of three babies cast in the role.
He returned to the show in 2019, aged 10, for the Christmas special.
When James Corden and Ruth Jones announced the programme would be returning, and concluding, with a finale last Christmas, Oscar wasn’t sure if he would be asked to come back.
But in an interview on BBC Cymru Wales, he revealed how he discovered he had been invited to reprise the role once again.
He explained that wasn’t getting too excited about returning to the show, and was trying not to get his hopes up, but the thought was in the “back of his head”.
So when his mum phoned him while he was at school, he knew instantly what it was about.
“I remember my mum picking up the phone and going ‘You’ll never guess what, you’ll never guess what’, and I had an instant feeling inside me,” he said.
“I was like, ‘Please tell me it’s what I think it is!”
And when she told him it was exactly what he was hoping it was, he couldn’t contain his excitement.
“You should have seen me!” he laughed.
“I was through the roof, I was jumping up and down with my cup of water in my hands, spilling all over the floor, but I didn’t care, I didn’t care.”
However, despite his excitement, he wasn’t able to tell any of his friends about it.
“I had to be so secretive about it,” he said.
“So I was like, I just had the biggest news of my life so far and I was in school and I couldn’t tell anyone.
“I really wanted to say but I was ‘No, I can’t, I can’t!”
“Not just a normal school day for Oscar Hartland, AKA Neil the Baby!” BBC Cymru Wales captioned their TikTok video of the interview.
Oscar had a vital role in the finale, as he performed an emotional acoustic rendition of The Beatles’ Blackbird at his dad’s wedding to Sonia.
Gavin and Stacey's Best Moments
With the news that the show is set to make an exciting return to screens, let's take a look at some of the comedy programme's biggest and best moments...
- Smithy and Rudi’s American Boy rap – No one will ever forget when James Corden and Sheridan Smith rapped perfectly word for word the Kanye West and Estelle hit American Boy as they walked across the car park on the phone to Gavin.
- Pam’s Vegetarian faux pas – Despite loving a cheesburger, Pam found herself caught up in a web of unexpected lies when she claimed to be Vegetarian. She is forced to keep up the secret throughout the entire show and uses hubby Mick to help her scoff meat. She is later rumbled when Stacey catches her in the act as she scoffs ham in the kitchen. Stacey says to her: “Is that ham, Pam!?… “I’ve seen you, Pam. A scotch egg here, a bit of bacon there, putting those regular sausages into the Linda McCartney box”.
- THAT fishing trip – It remains one of the biggest mysteries in Gavin and Stacey history as to just exactly what did happen on the ill-fated fishing trip. Bryn appears to be hiding a secret as to an occurance between him and his nephew Jason which has left relations fractures. Ness’ on-off boyfriend, Dave, is the only other person to know the whole truth. Bryn did appear to allude to him and Jason lying together naked to keep warm as he said to Dave: “We’re going to have this out, once and for all, man to man, you may know what happened, David, but you don’t know why it happened! It was freezing cold, it was! And when you are that cold…”
- Islands in the Stream – No one can ever forget the classic Karaoke performance of Islands in the Stream. Nessa and Bryn performed the track in front of all their nearest and dearest. It saw the whole pub burst into some line-dancing as they enjoyed a boozy night out.
- The Xmas special proposal – In 2019, fans were left overjoyed when the show made a comeback but it ended on the ultimate cliffhanger. Nessa asked Smithy if she would marry him as she finally laid bare her feelings for him. Fans were gutted as the show then cut straight to the credits as they never found out just how Smithy answered. Will all be revealed in the brand new episode?
However, much to viewers’ delight, Smithy didn’t go ahead with marrying Sonia, and instead pledged his love for Nessa – eventually tying the knot with her in a low-key ceremony.
In the comments section on the TikTok video of the BBC interview, fans were all left saying the same thing – namely that the finale wouldn’t have been the same without Oscar’s return.
“We couldn’t have a reunion/finale without Neil the Baby,” one wrote.
“You were perfect for that part,” another added.
“Glad they asked you to come back in!”
“I love Neil the baby even more now. What a lovely guy!” a third gushed.
As someone else said: “Bless him. Such a great singer.”