Rob Brydon Laurence Olivier. His character Bryn West in "Gavin & Stacey", written by Ruth Jones and James Corden, allowed him to return to his South Wales roots. In this role Brydon performed the 2009 Comic Relief charity single, "(Barry) Islands in the Stream", with Ruth Jones (both actors appearing as their characters from "Gavin & Stacey") and singer Tom Jones. It reached No.1 in the UK singles chart on 15 March 2009. In 2010 Brydon starred alongside Steve Coogan in Michael Winterbottom's partially improvised BBC Two sitcom series "The Trip," in which both actors played fictionalized versions of their public personas
Gavin & Stacey surnames of known English serial killers for some of the main characters – Shipman, West and Sutcliffe — was deliberate. In 2009 Ruth Jones commented: "I suppose we were hoping that people wouldn't realise and then when it does come to light, it's even more delicious..." Although the production team received requests, the show declined to use celebrity guests for cameo roles in the 2008 Christmas special. However, both Noel Sullivan and John Prescott made brief cameo appearances at the end of the final series. Both figures had formed the basis of long-running jokes throughout the series. Nessa occasionally refers