Gavin and Stacey return felt like a dream - Page

Gavin and Stacey star Joanna Page has said she thought it was "a dream" when she heard that the series would return for a final episode on Christmas Day.

Co-creators Ruth Jones and James Corden, who star as Nessa and Smithy, confirmed the news last month following much speculation.

Page, who plays Stacey, said she received the news in a message from Jones.

"I was terrified because I woke up, and it was about 08:05, and Ruth had sent me a message saying 'we’ve just released the news so feel free to say whatever you want'," Page told her Off The Telly podcast.

"And so I went to put it on my Instagram, and I was about to press post, and I suddenly thought, 'I don’t know if this is a dream'."

The latest episode of Gavin and Stacey, which aired on Christmas Day in 2019, ended on a cliff-hanger after Nessa got down on one knee to propose to Smithy at Barry Island.

"I cannot wait to get the script," Page, 47, told her podcast co-host Natalie Cassidy.

"When we did the last special, I remember reading that script.

"I got to the bit where it says Nessa goes down on one knee and says ‘will you marry me’ and then I carried on scrolling and I was like, 'what? Oh my god, where’s the rest?'"

Asked whether she believed this would really be the final episode, Page replied: "I do 100% think that this is it."

Page said she had no idea what would happen in the final episode - but did not think viewers would find out what happened during Bryn and Jason's infamous fishing trip.

"I mean, there’s so much they could do, isn’t there," said Page.

"I’m older now, playing Stacey, than Mel was playing Gwen on the first-ever series. Can you believe that?"

Rumours of the show's return were first reported by the US news outlet Deadline in February.

Jones later described the news of the special episode leaking early as "really mean".

"James [Corden] and I wanted to give everybody a nice surprise and I think it was really mean that they leaked it," she told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour in May.

"Because also it meant that I had to lie to people, to friends and family, because they were all saying 'is it happening?'

"And the reality is that until you have your cast booked, budget worked out, all of those things, you cannot say categorically that it is going to happen."

Jones added that she was "thrilled" by how much people loved the show.

"We'll have had five years away from it and people still seem to be excited and it's a real compliment," she added.