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25 December 2019, 13:57 | Updated: 25 December 2019, 14:20
James Corden and Ruth Jones created Gavin and Smithy’s crew based on people they already knew.
During Christmas Lunch with James Corden and Ruth Jones on Capital, the writers of Gavin and Stacey spilled some behind-the-scenes info about the legendary BBC TV series.
When quizzed by Rob Howard on Smithy and Gavin’s crew members, James revealed each of the lads were inspired by people he and Ruth already knew.
After testing to see if the star remembered each of the group’s names, James revealed which celebrity inspired the character ‘Dirtbox’ - and it was none other than Mamma Mia actor Dominic Cooper.
James said: “All these people are named after people I know. Dirtbox was… Do you know Dominic Cooper?
“I was in a play with Dominic called The History Boys, and in that play was Russell Tovey who played Budgie, Sam Anderson who played Fingers, and Andy Knott who played Dirtbox…”
However, the actor couldn’t quite recall where Dominic’s nickname came from.
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He continued: “We used to call Dominic Dirtbox, I don’t remember why if I’m honest - I genuinely don’t remember any of it.”
Dominic and Corden used to be roommates and have remained good friends, with Dominic introducing the TV host to his future wife Julia Carey.
Meanwhile, James was also tested on whether he remembers the lyrics to Estelle’s ‘American Boy’ after the iconic scene with his on-screen sister Sheridan Smith all those years ago.
Impressively, Corden remembered every word.
And when we gifted the stars with car air freshener (for Smithy) and a single Bounty chocolate bar from a Celebrations box (for Nessa), James promised to try and get the fragrant tree in his next episode of Carpool Karaoke.
“I will do my upmost - I mean this, I am deadly serious - to get this in the Carpool Karaoke car when we do the next one. I can’t tell you who that person is, but it is someone who probably has music on the Capital FM playlist.”
Christmas Lunch with James Corden & Ruth Jones airs on Capital at 2pm from 4pm on Christmas Day.
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