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 for the 2008 World Cup. Participating in this game made Jones realise he still wanted to play rugby league. On 7 November 2008 it was announced that Stacey Jones had re-signed as a player with the New Zealand Warriors on a one-year contract for 2009. He reportedly signed a contract worth over $220,000. In his March 2009 return game to the NRL, Jones set up two tries and guided his team to a 26–24 victory over Manly, reaffirming his nickname as "The Little General". Despite being predicted to play mostly off the bench in 2009, the early release of incumbent