James Corden confirms when filming starts for Gavin & Stacey: "It's going to be tight"

Speaking on The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show, Corden confirmed that they will begin shooting "around September/October time".

"It's going to be tight to get it in and delivered, but building that show, it's like building a Jenga puzzle," he explained. "Cast availability and things like that. I think it'll be okay."

Corden is currently starring in The Constituent at The Old Vic this summer, ensuring there must be a quick turnaround to film and complete the episode.

The co-creator also revealed the cast are still yet to read the script, noting that he and Jones still need to clean it up before sharing it!

He continued: "Once I open the play in a couple of weeks, Ruth and I, we have to do one last pass and clean-up of it, really, because the cast are like, 'When can I read it?'

"We don't really want to give it to anybody unless we feel like it, so we have to make a few trims and little adjustments, but I'm very excited to share it with people."

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The official confirmation of the Christmas episode came as a surprise to fans, with Jones previously denying a special was in the works after the very opposite was reported back in February.

Jones, who plays the iconic Nessa Jenkins, has since expressed her frustrations of the special episode being leaked, because it placed her in a position of having to lies to fans and her friends and family.

"It was unfortunate because James and I wanted to give everybody a nice surprise, and I think it was really mean that they leaked it," she said on Radio 4."

She added: "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."

While full details of the plot and cast are yet to be confirmed, it is assumed that majority of the main cast will be headed back to Barry.

Alison Steadman, who plays Pamela Shipman, confirmed to The Sun that she will return as the over-the-top matriarch that fans all know and love.

"I know it's going to happen," she told the publication. "I just haven't seen the script - none of us have seen the script."

Gavin & Stacey is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

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