The actor who played Smithy's fiancée in the last ever episode of Gavin and Stacey has apologised after having to play the role of the villain.
The BBC was King of the Christmas Day broadcasting battle, cheerfully stomping ITV's offerings into festive paste in the ratings thanks to a roster that included the new Wallace and Gromit film and the last ever offering of Gavin and Stacey.
About 12.3 million people tuned in to watch the finale to a show that started all the way back in 2007 and had last given us an episode in 2019.
The BBC says the grand finale brought in the biggest TV audience for 16 years, the last time more Brits were all watching something at Christmas was in 2008 when Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death was on our screens.
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With so many people wanting to see Nessa (Ruth Jones) and Smithy (James Corden) get together after she proposed at the end of the previous Christmas special, woe betide the poor soul who stood in their way.
That would be Sonia (Laura Aikman), who was all set to marry Smithy in the final ever Gavin and Stacey despite it being painfully clear that she just wasn't a good fit for him.
It turns out that even Sonia's actor seemed not to be rooting for her, as Aikman posted an apology in her Instagram Stories as she reacted to the final episode, writing: "Many apologies for my behaviour... x"
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She also shared posts of people calling her 'everyone's favourite Christmas Day villain', and said that her family got to see Sonia 'ruining Christmas again' and enjoyed a meme joking that Sonia and not Feathers McGraw was 'the nastiest villain on telly this Christmas'.
Fortunately, Laura seems to know very well that her character was set up to be the villain of the piece by being in the way of Smithy and Nessa finally getting together, and it didn't help that she ended up being quite the Bridezilla.
Throughout the final episode of Gavin and Stacey, it was made very clear that she wasn't a good fit with Smithy's nearest and dearest, and breaking up that wonderful bunch was never going to be the happy ending we were all hoping for.
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In fairness, there was one moment from the finale where viewers did feel sorry for Sonia as on her hen party, our usual favourites hired her a stripper, a move which went down horribly and left lots who were watching thinking that in this one case she was in the right.
Plus without Sonia, Smithy and Nessa would probably be together already and we wouldn't have got the marvellous final episode.
It took a lot of subterfuge and secrecy to avoid giving away Sonia's involvement, which would have made it clear that Smithy had said no to Nessa before the episode even aired, as Aikman had also said she took the NDA 'very seriously'.
The crew were able to keep the secret by booking Laura into a different hotel to the rest of the crew, with director Christine Gernon saying the actor was 'not allowed to come to wrap or screening parties' just to make sure her participation was under wraps.
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At this point we'd say we hope the viewers remember that Sonia is a character and avoid pouring scorn on her actor, but you know how some fans can struggle with the easy task of separating the two.
Topics: Gavin And Stacey, TV, BBC, Celebrity
Joe Harker