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How The Internet Reacted To Gavin And Stacey, Christmas Day’s Most-Watched Show

Photo: BBC
It's official: Gavin and Stacey's first episode since 2010 was the most-watched programme of Christmas Day, drawing an average audience of 11.6 million to BBC One while it was on.
That's nearly four million more than the second most-watched programme, The Queen's Christmas Broadcast, which drew an average of 7.9 million.
The episode featured plenty of nostalgic nods to classic moments from the show, including a bickering Dawn and Pete, some veiled discussion about Bryn and Jason's infamous fishing trip, and Alison Steadman's Pam saying "Oh my Christ!"
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James Corden's Smithy introduced a new character to the group, and it's not too much of a spoiler to say she didn't really fit in.
The episode then ended on a cliffhanger so gag-worthy that #GavinandStacey is still trending on Twitter the morning after it aired.
The Christmas special earned a positive review from Refinery29's Jazmin Kopotsha, who wrote in her review: "Bryn's facial expressions are the gift that keep on giving and Nessa is the most reliable character who, unsurprisingly, has aged the best of the lot. You'll not be disappointed but probably not surprised, either. The magic is in the familiarity of it all and truth be told, it really is tidy."
Over on Twitter, some fans pointed that the managers of Heston services – which wasn't exactly praised in the episode – might not be feeling too happy this morning.
Others paid tribute to the late Margaret John, who played super-fruity pensioner Doris in the show, but sadly passed away in 2011. The special was dedicated by co-creators Ruth Jones and James Corden to her memory.
The episode also contained a controversial moment in which Ruth Jones' Nessa and Rob Brydon's Bryn sang "Fairytale of New York", the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl's classic Christmas song, and didn't omit its use of the homophobic slur "f**got".
Some fans tweeted that only "snowflakes" would be offended by this, but others said it was misstep because of how damaging the word has been to members of the LGBTQ community.
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If you haven't seen it yet, the Gavin and Stacey special is available on BBC iPlayer.

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