Gavin and Stacey could be back as James Corden returns to UK after Late Late Show ends

JAMES Corden has given his strongest hint yet that his return to the UK means a possible return for Gavin & Stacey. 

The comic, who plans to move home next year when his tenure on The Late Late Show ends, said he’ll have more time to consider further series of the sitcom. 

James is in town this week to film a string of ‘homecoming’ episodes of the late night talk show. 

Chatting at Monday’s record at the Freemasons Hall in the capital, James invited questions from the audience in between takes and talk swiftly moved to the BBC comedy, which he writes with Ruth Jones.

James said: “So it’s Ruth and I, we’ve always done it together, the two of us. Ruth’s judgement is always bang on. She is such an incredible judge and she instinctively will know when it’s right.

“And look, I’ll have a bit more free time. Maybe that’ll be the time to get together and talk about something.”

“But I trust her judgement so much that if it’s right, we’ll do it.”

Earlier today he opened up again on a return for Gavin & Stacey, where James plays Smithy alongside Mathew Horne and Joanna Page’s titular characters. 

The gang’s last outing was for a Christmas special in 2019. 

Speaking to Vernon Kay on Radio 2, James repeated the same message: “I wish I could say it’s up to me. The best thing about Gavin and Stacey is that it’s Ruth and I and, if I’m being completely honest, her judgement is exceptional.”

And he added: “Look, I am going to have a bit more free time as of, sort of, next year and that will open some time for us to just be together I hope.

“I’m so touched every time I get here when people ask about it. It’s amazing, its incredible how people care about those characters in the show. 

“It’s so great and I realise the ending of that special does very definitely tease something else.”

James hinted at logistical issues in development. 

Ahead of Ed Sheeran and Vin Diesel joining him for another record, he went on: “Ruth is, it’s always been the two of us, it’s always been. And we can’t write separately. 

“We’ve never been able to write over Zoom or anything at all. We’ve just got to be in a room together, talking with a pack of Post-It Notes and a pen and at some point we get a laptop out, but that’s even way down the line. 

“I’m going to see her this summer, but I doubt we’ll talk about the show. The last few times we’ve talked we haven’t even mentioned it really… it’s always a friendship first.”

James announced in April that this series of The Late Late Show would be his last and that he would begin that final year with four special episodes filmed in London.

The format has run since 1995 under three other hosts before James, Tom Snyder, Craig Kilborn and Craig Ferguson.