''Gavin and Stacey'' is a comedic BritishSeries (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 StraightMan to their eccentric families and friends.

Seriously popular too- it moved from BBC3 and an audience of 500,000 to BBC1 where the final two episodes had an audience in excess of 10,000,000.

The show's creators, James Corden and Ruth Jones, star as the BetaCouple, Smithy and Nessa. Supporting characters include Gavin's parents, Mick and Pamela; Stacey's mum, Gwen, and her uncle Bryn.
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* AlmightyJanitor: Nessa, given her somewhat eventful stories..
* AmbiguouslyGay: Bryn.
* BigEater: Smithy.
* BeachEpisode: The 2009 Christmas special.
** Also, the series 3 episode where the characters go to the beach.
* BeautyInversion: 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.
* BritishAccents: Ah, the inherent comedy of the Welsh accent...
* TheCameo: Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott (who Nessa has claimed to have slept with) appeared at Nessa and Dave's wedding.
* CastIncest: James Corden and Sheridan Smith (who play brother and sister Smithy and Rudi) used to date in real life.
* {{Catchphrase}}:
** "O!, what's occurrin'?"; "Truth be told..."
** "I won't lie to you"
** "Lush!"
** "Oh my Christ!"
** "[[AffectionateNickname GAVLAR]]!"
* CelebrityParadox: In the Christmas special, Mick asks when ''{{Eastenders}}'' is on - which the actor has also starred in.
* CerebusSyndrome: A mild case in series two, but there's still plenty of comedy.
* ChildrenRaiseYou: With a dash of ComingOfAgeStory for Smithy... eventually.
* CloudCuckoolander: Smithy's [[TheDitz ditzy]] friend and fellow builder Deano sometimes strays into this, as when he refuses to go bowling as he's 'scared of the shoes.'
* DeathByIrony: One of Nessa's former lovers died [[GoneHorriblyRight while faking his own death]].
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: "Little Baby Neil, the baby..."
* DirtyOldWoman: Doris.
* DramaBomb: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] thusly: "It's like living in {{Hollyoaks}}!"
* ExpansionPackPast: Nessa. Her father and husband-of-sorts Dave both appear to have escaped from ''Shameless'' and it's far from clear at times, to what extent the other characters really know anything about her.
* FanDisservice: Smithy, frequently. The gag involving Nessa's missing thong is probably the worst.
** Pete and Dawn's never-quite-successful threesome, involving a young coloured man recruited from the internet at one point and ending as part of the general ''Reveal'' in the pub toilets, probably falls under this heading as well.
* TheGhost: Smithy's girlfriend Lucy.
* GilliganCut: "There's no way you're getting me out in Cardiff tonight!" "I never thought you'd get me out in Cardiff tonight!"
* GrandmaWhatMassiveHotnessYouHave: Smithy frequently flirts with Pamela. It's not ''entirely'' clear how much he's kidding...
* HeterosexualLifePartners: 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.
* IObject: No less than quadruple-subverted in the third season finale.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: 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.
* TheLadette: Rudi, Smithy's sister, who wears [[http://www.heelys.com/Pages/Welcome.aspx Heelys]].
* LawOfInverseFertility: 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.
* LongDistanceRelationship: By UK standards, at least..
* {{Malaproper}}: Pam.
* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: [[TortureCellar The Wests]], the [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Shipmans]], and the [[JackTheRipoff Sutcliffes]]. [[ThemeNaming See a pattern?]]
* NoodleIncident: The unspecified (but heavily [[HoYay hinted]] [[IncestIsRelative at]]) incident between Bryn and Jason during a fishing trip.
* TheNotSecret: In the ChristmasEpisode it is revealed that everyone except for Gwen knew that [[spoiler:Pam isn't really a vegetarian]].
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: 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 CrowningMomentOfAwesome by lifting the ticket barrier and driving past when they get fed up of arguing about 10p.
* OneSteveLimit: Subverted. Both Smithy and his little sister Rudi are known as ''Smithy'', which can get confusing.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Smithy. His real first name is Neil.
** There's also mention of two Margarets, so "Japanese Margaret" is used to differentiate.
* OnlySaneMan: Gavin, and possibly Mick.
* PunnyName: 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 ([[WordOfGod supposedly]]) that Owain sounds a bit like 'owing', as in owing money to someone. Arguably a lot funnier as an OrphanedPunchline...
* ShirtlessScene: Gavin and Smithy. Subverted with massive ''FanDisservice'' in another scene involving Bryn and Smithy working out
* SitcomArchNemesis: Stacey and Nat. Also, Gwen and Jean.
* SlapSlapKiss: Smithy and Nessa.
* SlowClap: Bryn starts doing this after Smithy vows to support Nessa [[spoiler:and their baby]]. He stops when everyone else just stares at him.
* StraightMan: Gavin and Stacey are an ordinary young couple with no particularly interesting quirks. Their family and friends provide all the comedy.
* ThemeNaming: The three main families are named after serial killers.
* TwinTelepathy: Smithy and his sister aren't twins, but their minds work on an almost creepily similar wavelength.
* TwoWordsObviousTrope: The stag party organiser.
* UnfortunateNames: Three families share a surname with an infamous serial killer, a fact which gets the inevitable [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] hung on it in the series 1 finale.
* WhatTheHellHero: 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.
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