Gavin and Stacey

It's well lush!

Gavin and Stacey is a comedic British Series (2007-2009) about Gavin, a man from Essex, and Stacey, a woman from Barry, Wales. The programme follows their developing relationship and eventual marriage. Most of the humour is character driven, with the central couple playing the Straight Man to their eccentric families and friends.

Seriously popular too- it moved from BBC 3 and an audience of 500,000 to BBC 1 where it got about seven million.

The show's creators, James Corden and Ruth Jones, star as the Beta Couple, Smithy and Nessa. Supporting characters include Gavin's parents, Mick and Pamela; Stacey's mum, Gwen, and her uncle Bryn.

Tropes used in Gavin and Stacey include:

Alcohol Is Poison
Ambiguously Gay: Bryn.
Beach Episode: The 2009 Christmas special.
- Also, the Series 3 episode where the characters go to the beach.
Beauty Inversion: Look for a clip of Ruth Jones when she's not playing Nessa, and then quietly marvel at how much effort must have gone into making her look that rough.
Big Eater: Smithy.
British Accents: Ah, the inherent comedy of the Welsh accent...
The Cameo: Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott (who Nessa has claimed to have slept with) appeared at Nessa and Dave's wedding.
Catch Phrase:
- "O!, what's occurrin'?"; "Truth be told..."
- "I won't lie to you."
- "Lush!"
- "Oh my Christ!"
- "GAVLAR!"
Celebrity Paradox: In the Christmas special, Mick asks when Eastenders is on - which the actor has also starred in.
Cerebus Syndrome: A mild case in Series 2, but there's still plenty of comedy.
Children Raise You: With a dash of Coming of Age Story for Smithy... eventually.
Cloudcuckoolander: Smithy's ditzy friend and fellow builder Deano sometimes strays into this, as when he refuses to go bowling as he's 'scared of the shoes'.
Department of Redundancy Department: "Little Baby Neil, the baby..."
Dirty Old Woman: Doris.
Drama Bomb: Lampshaded thusly: "It's like living in Hollyoaks!"
The Ghost: Smithy's girlfriend Lucy.
Gilligan Cut: "There's no way you're getting me out in Cardiff tonight!" "I never thought you'd get me out in Cardiff tonight!"
Grandma, What Massive Hotness You Have!: Smithy frequently flirts with Pamela. It's not entirely clear how much he's kidding...
Heterosexual Life Partners: Gavin and Smithy. Smithy is the neediest of the two, to the point where Gavin's moving away to Cardiff is treated like a custody battle.
I Object: No less than quadruple-subverted in the third season finale.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Smithy. While he's an over-emotional and somewhat irritating fellow, you know his heart's in the right place most of the time and he just has trouble expressing himself.
- Nessa to a lesser extent. Her behaviour fluctuates between being a good friend and being a cheapskate who has no problem using scams to gain money.
The Ladette: Rudi, Smithy's sister, who wears Heelys.
Law of Inverse Fertility: Played both ways. When Stacey fails to get pregnant, Gavin is told that due to his low sperm count, it's going to be very hard for him and Stacey to conceive naturally. Of course, Stacey ends up pregnant when they're not even trying.
- Also, Nessa gets pregnant from a one night stand.
Long-Distance Relationship: By UK standards, at least..
Malaproper: Pam.
Named After Somebody Famous: The Wests, the Shipmans, and the Sutcliffes. See a pattern?
The Not-Secret: In the Christmas Episode, it is revealed that everyone except for Gwen knew that Pam isn't really a vegetarian.
Noodle Incident: The unspecified (but heavily hinted at) incident between Bryn and Jason during a fishing trip.
Obstructive Bureaucrat: The writers clearly hate these because they show up a lot, including Gavin's overzealous line manager who (inadvertently) nearly splits the title couple up, an overzealous platform guard at Paddington Station who ends up siccing armed police on Gavin when he goes onto the platform to propose to Stacey, and an overzealous tollbooth attendant at the Severn Bridge who Gavin and Smithy get a Crowning Moment of Awesome by lifting the ticket barrier and driving past when they get fed up of arguing about 10p.
One Steve Limit: Both Smithy and his little sister Rudi are known as Smithy, which can get confusing.
Only Sane Man: Gavin, and possibly Mick.
Punny Name: Owain Hughes. Partially subverted in that the joke isn't immediately obvious to the English characters, yet several Welsh characters find it funny, as he replies 'No, I do not.'
- The joke is (supposedly) that Owain sounds a bit like 'owing', as in owing money to someone. Arguably a lot funnier as an Orphaned Punchline...
- An alternative explanation is that 'hughing' is British slang for vomiting.
- Or that 'hewer' was a specific job in coal mining. Thus the joke, 'Owain hews', would be understandable in Wales but not to people from areas without a coal mining heritage.
Shirtless Scene: Gavin and Smithy.
Sitcom Arch Nemesis: Stacey and Nat. Also, Gwen and Jean.
Slap Slap Kiss: Smithy and Nessa.
Straight Man: Gavin and Stacey are an ordinary young couple with no particularly interesting quirks. Their family and friends provide all the comedy.
Theme Naming: The three main families are named after serial killers.
Twin Telepathy: Smithy and his sister aren't twins, but their minds work on an almost creepily similar wavelength.
Two Words: Obvious Trope: The stag party organiser.
Unfortunate Names: Three families share a surname with an infamous serial killer, a fact which gets the inevitable lampshade hung on it in the Series 1 finale.
What the Hell, Hero?: Stacey not only neglects to mention her previous engagements to Gavin, but two seasons later is revealed to have gone off the pill in hopes of getting pregnant so that it will force Gavin to move to Barry with her.