Gavin and Stacey star Mathew Horne has finally addressed rumours surrounding his friendship with co-star James Corden. With just over a week to go until the final episode of Gavin and Stacey hits our TV screens, a clip of James Corden from 2019 being told Mathew Horne refused to do an interview with him has resurfaced.
Fans of the iconic British TV show have been anticipating the final episode, which is airing on BBC One on Christmas Day.
While Corden’s character Smithy is best friends with Horne’s Gavin in the show, after an interview Corden had with Piers Morgan back in 2019, audiences began to speculate that the pair may have had a falling out since the show’s original release.
The controversy around the state of their friendship started when Corden appeared on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, where it was revealed that Horne was asked to participate in the show but refused. The resurfaced clip shows Morgan asking Corden if the pair “talk much.”
To which Corden replies, “Err, we talk occasionally, yeah.” “We asked him to take part in this programme and he chose not to,” Morgan then reveals. A seemingly taken aback Corden then says, “I didn’t know that, but I can understand.”
Whilst the moment was framed as though there were tension between the two actors, Horne is now saying that this was not the case. Speaking to The Times, Horne said, “I didn’t go on that show because I was filming out of London, and they could only film my interview on one day, and I couldn’t do it.
“The other reason is that I dislike Piers Morgan and everything he stands for.” Horne also added that the pair have never had a falling out.
“The truth is that there was never any rift and everything is fine. James and I have always been friends and we always will be.
“I talk to him quite a bit given the time zones and it was great to see him and be acting with him again. We never fell out, it was never that… We had such an intense love for each other. We were one person for a long time.”
The 46-year-old shared his frustration with the “narrative” that he and Corden were no longer friends. “I couldn’t really do anything about it. Because James then went off to the States, that was the narrative and however much I said that we didn’t fall out, no amount of protesting would have convinced people that it didn’t happen,” he added.
After setting the record straight, and ahead of the final episode of Gavin and Stacey on December 25, Horne says he now wants to “be grateful and enjoy the things that I’m so fortunate to have, which is a really interesting, fun career and a beautiful family.”
The Gavin & Stacey Christmas 2024 special will premiere on BBC One and iPlayer at 9pm on Christmas Day (Wednesday, December 25)