‘Gavin and Stacey’ actress Laura Aikman has spilled the beans on the extreme measures she took to keep her comeback under wraps. The 39 year old star, known for her role as Smithy’s (played by James Corden) much-disliked fiancée Sonia, surprised fans with her appearance in ‘Gavin and Stacey: The Finale’.
She revealed on Instagram that she couldn’t even go out to buy Sonia’s wedding dress due to the need for secrecy, instead sourcing it from Vinted: “We couldn’t go wedding dress shopping (because of the secrecy), so this was from Vinted, (it probably belonged to someone who watched the show! )”
She gave a shout-out to the costume designer Shan James for last-minute alterations, saying, “Shout out to our costume designer #ShanJames who had to alter it massively as 48 hrs before we shot the wedding it didn’t fit.” She also praised the makeup team, including Marcus Whitney and Alison Webb, for their work on her wig and makeup: “Our formidable makeup designer #marcuswhitney found me this amazing wig, yes IT’S A WIG. It was fitted and styled by gorgeous @alisonwebbxxmakeup who also did my makeup and hid with me.”
Sonia’s wedding dress was bought on Vinted
(Image: BANG Showbiz)
The secrecy surrounding her role was so tight that not even Aikman’s family were aware of her return until they watched the live broadcast, leading to an amusing video of their reactions. “The moment my family realise Sonia is ruining Christmas again.” In the video, a family member exclaimed in surprise, “You never told me”, prompting Laura to respond, “We never told anyone.”
In the latest episode, a shocker is unveiled when it’s shown that Smithy popped the question to Sonia after the gripping 2019 ‘Gavin and Stacey’ Christmas special left us all hanging, following Nessa’s (played by Ruth Jones) heartfelt declaration of love and surprising marriage proposal to him. But during his wedding to Sonia, the true feelings in Smithy’s heart are laid bare – he realizes he can’t go through with it.
He ditches a seething Sonia at the altar and darts off to propose to Nessa, his real love. Co-creator of the series, James – who penned the comedy alongside Ruth – divulged the crafty “bait and switch” scenario crafted for ‘The Finale’ during a talk in London.
He shared: “I had this idea at like three o’clock in the morning and I called Ruth and I was like, I wonder if we could trick everybody into thinking that for the first six or seven minutes they’re just going to watch a wedding between Nessa and Smithy. Because what was really interesting is after the 2019 special, all that people would say to us was, ‘What does he say? ’ They would never say ‘Who did he choose? ’ I don’t even think it was in people’s peripheral. These two have been up and down.”
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