Gavin and Stacey star secretly welcomes baby ahead of Christmas special-Emily Bashforth-Entertainment – Metro

The Gavin and Stacey family has grown off-screen (Picture: Baby Cow)

Gavin and Stacey star Mathew Horne has become a dad ahead of reprising his role in the show’s Christmas special.

Mathew, 45, is best known and loved for portraying lead star Gavin Shipman in the BBC comedy, penned by James Corden and Ruth Jones.

As fans will be aware – and counting down the days until – he’ll be back as the Essex lad later this year when the whole cast reunites for one final episode.

And while Gavin and Stacey (played by Joanna Page) are known to have their own children on-screen, Mathew’s family has also expanded in real life.

Over the weekend, the actor and his wife Celina Bassili were pictured with their little one for the first time.

While she carried their son, Mathew pushed a pram as they made the most of the Bank Holiday sunshine.

Mathew Horne plays Gavin in the beloved BBC comedy, with Joanna Page as Stacey (Picture: BBC)

It’s believed that the Catherine Tate star kept his arrival under wraps, only spilling the news to a select number of relatives.

A source told The Sun: ‘Mathew is a brilliant dad and he and Celina love being parents.

‘Celina’s brother has a son who is a similar age and they love spending time together.

‘Mathew also kept the news quiet because he prefers to live his life out of the spotlight, even though he’s a household name thanks to Gavin and Stacey.’

They added: ‘All his Gavin and Stacey co-stars know about him being a dad, including James Corden and Joanna Page.

‘They all have kids so you can imagine the talk on set for the Christmas special is going to centre a lot on their kids.’

He married Celina Bassili in 2021 (Picture: Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

The Catherine Tate star became a dad shortly after they tied the knot (Picture: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Mathew and Celina – a Norweigian set designer – are believed to have first become parents shortly after tying the knot in October 2021.

They were first romantically linked in 2019 after he was engaged to actress Evelyn Hoskins until 2018.

Indeed, Mathew has kept a pretty low profile since Gavin and Stacey’s third series finished nine years ago.

He first rose to fame in The Catherine Tate Show in several roles, most notably as the foul-mouthed Nan’s grandson Jamie.

It wasn’t long before he and James were joined at the hip, one year confessing to spending 263 days together.

Alas, their working relationship and off-screen friendship began to crumble after their comedy sketch show, Horne and Corden, was panned by critics, as was their film Lesbian Vampire Killers.

Ultimately, their bromance was put under huge strain, leaving them unable to watch their work back.

They went their separate ways amid claims of a bitter falling out and stopped speaking for months, with Mathew admitting himself that he ‘retreated’ after criticism of their joint projects.

Mathew also turned down an offer to appear on James’s episode of Life Stories but did later claim there was no major bad blood.

He said in 2016: ‘Jealousy isn’t something I do – I am not a jealous person. I am thrilled about the success he is having.’

Gavin and Stacey now also have their own children (Picture: Baby Cow)

The actor admitted to ‘retreating’ from the limelight after his falling out with James Corden (Picture: Jo Hale/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Gavin and Stacey fanatics are itching to see him back as his beloved character for the first time since 2019, when the last Christmas episode aired.

The one-off programme was confirmed earlier this year when writers James and Ruth took to social media with a photo of the script, sending the internet into meltdown.

Even celebrities expressed their excitement, such as Gordon Ramsay and Rylan Clark.

James wrote: ‘Some news… It’s official!!! We have finished writing the last ever episode of Gavin and Stacey. See you on Christmas Day, BBC One. Love Ruth and James.’

The plot of the episode is being kept top secret for now, with even the cast members themselves in the dark, as filming is yet to begin and scripts are yet to be handed out.

Fans are itching to see the iconic characters back in their roles (Picture: BBC/GS TV Productions Ltd/Tom Jackson)

Will we finally find out what happened on the fishing trip? Did Smithy say yes to Nessa’s proposal and are they married now? So many burning questions we can only pray will be answered…

But that’s not the only thing we have to look forward to, oh no.

It has also been claimed that we’ll be treated to an extra festive present – a documentary looking back on the programme, so we can see what’s been occurin’ behind-the-scenes.

Merry Christmas indeed!

Gavin and Stacey returns to BBC on Christmas Day.

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