´óÏó´«Ã½

Gavin Shipman (Mathew Horne)

Gavin is an only child who, until recently, lived with his mother Pam and father Mick in Billericay, Essex. His best friend, Smithy, lives just down the street. He is a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur FC (as is Mathew Horne) and is often seen wearing his Spurs shirt.

Gavin and Stacey met at work and had a 'phone' relationship until they met up in London, fell in love and married at the end of the first series. Gavin recently left Essex with Stacey to move to Barry.

Stacey Shipman (Joanna Page)

Stacey is from Barry, near Cardiff. She lived at home with her mother in Barry until her marriage. She has been engaged six times but married only once, to Gavin. She confides frequently in her best friend, Nessa.

Stacey was very homesick in Essex, and at the end of the Christmas special she finally managed to persuade Gavin to move back.

Smithy (James Corden)

Smithy is Gavin's best friend, and they've known each other since primary school. He loves Gavin's parents more than his own, and has an unseen girlfriend called Lucy. He loves West Ham United.

When Nessa gave birth to their son, they name him Neil after himself and Nessa's father.

He is very possessive in his friendship with Gavin, to the extent that he expected a text from him every day of Gavin and Stacey's honeymoon. He hasn't reacted very well to Gavin moving to Wales.

Nessa Jenkins (Ruth Jones)

Nessa is Stacey's best friend, also from Barry. She discovered she was pregnant in the fourth episode of series one, and later revealed that Smithy was the father. She speaks fluent Italian and Welsh, has several tattoos, is a chain smoker (until her pregnancy) and was one of the original members of All Saints (but didn't get along with Shaznay).

She works at the Barry Island Amusement Arcades or 'The Slots'.

Nessa regularly recalls strange and often lewd experiences with celebrities (John Prescott is mentioned several times, as is Dodi Al-Fayed and Russell Brand), and to a lesser extent her various life experiences such as working on a cruise ship and coaching goalkeeping at Coventry City. She gave birth to baby Neil in the series finale of series two and become engaged to Dave Coaches in the 2008 Christmas special.

Pamela Shipman (Alison Steadman)

Pam is Gavin's proud and doting mother. She is in her early fifties, typical of the Essex wife stereotype and is very houseproud. She is also very caring of Smithy, Gavin's best friend, and treats him as if he were her own son. Pam was devastated to be losing 'her prince' when he announced he was moving to Barry at the end of the Christmas special.

Mick Shipman (Larry Lamb)

Mick is Gavin's father. He is a down-to-earth guy, like his son. He's happy with his life – running his own company, playing golf and going to the pub. He is something of a calming influence on his wife.

Gwen West (Melanie Walters)

Gwen is Stacey's mother. She is a widow in her late forties, a housewife, and regularly offers to cook omelettes. She dislikes English singer James Blunt because his lyrics "don't make sense".

Uncle Bryn (Rob Brydon)

Bryn is Stacey and Jason's uncle. He is the brother of Stacey's deceased father, Trevor, and is single, in his late forties. He lives across the road from Gwen and Stacey and is very protective of them.

Bryn has a strained relationship with his nephew Jason due to an unspecified incident on a fishing trip. He is a simple man who leads a very simple life and often gets excited about trivial things such as his satnav and the internet. He also enjoys typically female-oriented TV shows such as Desperate Housewives and Sex And The City.

Dave Coaches (Steffan Rhodri)

Bus driver in Barry and Nessa's fiancé (engaged in Christmas special). Aspersions are made about his sexual health in series one, although it is revealed in series two that he has been to "the clinic". He is the only person, other than Bryn and Jason, who knows what happened on the fishing trip. He also has his own company named Dave Coaches.

Dawn Sutcliffe (Julia Davies) and Pete Sutcliffe (Adrian Scarborough)

Friends of Pam and Mick Shipman. They have a very strained marriage and regularly insult each other in public. Despite this, they are still very much in love and plan to renew their vows in this series.

Doris (Margaret John)

Gwen's elderly next-door neighbour, she has a daughter named Moira, who she never got on with. Doris has a thing for the younger man and has offered herself up to Gavin for 'discreet' extra-marital relations.

Jason West (Robert Wilfort)

Stacey's elder brother, son of Gwen and her late husband, Trevor. Lives in Spain with his boyfriend, José. Has a very strained relationship with Uncle Bryn due to that fishing trip.

Rudi Smith (Sherdian Smith)

Smithy's sister, likes to be also called Smithy, trying to imitate her brother. They argue A LOT.

Cath Smith (Pam Ferris)

New to the cast of Gavin And Stacey, Cath is Smithy and Rudi's mum. She seems to have a problem with sleep, in that she does, a lot. She and Pam pretend to get on, but they really don't like each other very much.