Gavin & Stacey Friends". Corden claims to have been inspired by the story of his own real life best friend Gavin, who met his wife over the phone at work, and arranged to meet. They presented it to the BBC as a one-off play, but the BBC instead asked for a full series. The roles of Gavin and Stacey were cast through an auditioning process, but were almost immediately given to Mathew Horne and Joanna Page on the strength of their chemistry together. The roles of Nessa and Smithy were written by Corden and Jones for themselves. Some roles were written with certain
Stacey Jones and left the Dragons. Stacey Jones returned home and rejoined the New Zealand Warriors as their kicking coach for the 2008 season. As part of his release from the Dragons he was not allowed to play for any other club during the 2008 season. During the New Zealand 2008 election Jones publicly appeared with then Prime Minister Helen Clark and offered his support to the Labour Party campaign. In November 2008 he played for the All Golds again in New Plymouth against the New Zealand Māori. The game served as both a testimonial to Ruben Wiki and a warm up