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
Ruth Jones "Ultimate Funny Woman" award at the annual Cosmopolitan Ultimate Women of the Year Awards in November 2009. In July 2013 Jones received an honorary degree from the University of Warwick. Jones was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to entertainment. Ruth Jones was awarded the Bafta Cymru Sian's Phillips special recognition award in 2009. In 2013 STELLA won three Bafta Cymru awards for best drama, best writer and best editing. Jones received a Bafta nomination at the London awards for best actress for her role as Stella in