Gavin and Stacey fans urged to watch ‘superb’ underrated comedy series

Gavin and Stacey fans have urged others to tune into another comedy starring Ruth Jones (Picture: Sky TV)

Gavin and Stacey fans looking for their next comedy series to binge can tune into another ‘superb’ one starring Ruth Jones.

A few weeks ago, the BBC comedy series came to an end, with creators Ruth and James Corden revealing they had no further plans to revive the series, which first hit screens in 2007.

After the three seasons wrapped up in 2010, two years later Ruth went on to work on the comedy drama Stella for Sky TV.

Airing for six seasons between 2012 and 2017, the show was co-created by Ruth and David Peet.

The series followed ‘the ups and downs in the life of a struggling mother of three living in the fictional Welsh town of Pontyberry, earning a living doing the laundry and ironing for the locals’.

Ruth starred as the titular character, whose eldest son Luke was serving a prison sentence for joyriding while her daughter Emma is completely besotted with boyfriend Sunil and wants to leave school without doing her exams.

Stella aired between 2012 and 2017 (Picture: Sky TV)

Meanwhile her youngest son, Ben is working on his family tree, however, the project leads to a familiar face from Stella’s past reemerging and ‘sending shockwaves throughout the valley’.

Across the 58 episodes, several celebrities also made appearances, including Rylan Clark, Gethin Jones, Gillian McKeith, Jonathan Ross and Ashley Banjo.

The series has received significant praise online.

‘Ruth Jones has created something special in Stella and I don’t think it gets the recognition that it deserves,’ one fan posted on IMDB.

‘Ruth Jones has created a classic with Stella… if you haven’t seen it already, I recommend you do,’ someone else shared.

‘Stumbling upon the series Stella has been an absolute delight! There is not one detail of this series that I don’t adore,’ another added.

Fans have said it ‘doesn’t get the recognition it deserves’ (Picture: Sky TV)

Many others discovered the series after the recent Gavin and Stacey finale too.

‘I have just finished Re-watching Stella featuring and written by the very talented Ruth Jones. Such a fantastic program,’ Lorraine posted on X a few weeks ago.

‘Gavin and Stacey have led me to Stella, and WOW Ruth Jones is a talented, multi-hyphenate chameleon!’ Mark declared.

‘Wish Ruth would do another series of Stella. Watching it aging for the millionth time,’ Rebecca added.

Previously speaking to Comedy UK, Ruth spoke about the positive response to the series,

Gavin and Stacey came to an end a few weeks ago (Picture: Baby Cow/ BBC)

‘I was really, really pleasantly surprised, and that’s understating it. We adore the series and I love playing Stella but we had no idea how it would be received.

‘I remember the first screening: David and I just sat there, feeling incredibly tense, but luckily in the first scene there were already laughs from the audience and we both let out a huge sigh of relief. From that first viewing we had an inkling that people might enjoy it.

‘It’s lovely that the response has been so positive because, in the past, people have said negative things to me about other projects, but no one has with Stella.’

Throughout her career, Ruth has also appeared in Fat Friends, Little Britain, Nighty Night and The Street.

Stella is available to stream on Now, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV Plus.

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