Gavin & Stacey: The Finale review – you will be forcibly moved to tears

Yesterday at 05:35 PM

This final farewell to the hugely loved sitcom is profoundly bittersweet. Alongside the laughs, it's a beautiful, poignant piece of television

I'm not crying, you're crying. OK, fine – I'm bawling my eyes out. And not just because it's time to say a final farewell to Gavin, Stacey and the rest of the Barry and Billericay contingents – but because their swansong is a beautiful, extraordinarily poignant bonanza of nostalgia, love and (eventually) wish-fulfilment. If these characters don't already have a place in your heart, this emotional 90-minute goodbye probably won't change that. But if they do, prepare to be forcibly moved to tears.

British comedy has long relied on the Christmas special: our greatest sitcoms tend to bow out at their peak, but the festive revival traditionally comes to the rescue, extending the lifespans of iconic shows such as The Royle Family and Only Fools and Horses by a decade or more. If there's still any doubt, Gavin & Stacey (which ostensibly concluded in 2010) belongs firmly in the same modern classic category. This is not just because of its gargantuan popularity (it may qualify as the last properly mainstream sitcom, airing just before streaming fragmented the zeitgeist), but because of its quality. Don't be fooled by its straightforward accessibility – Ruth Jones and James Corden's romcom perfectly offset its superficial sweetness with an undercurrent of sour edge. Best of all, it doubled as a joyous hymn to humdrum British life, instilling mind-numbing minutiae with cheer and turning mundane small talk into a kind of poetry.