Gavin & Stacey's Larry Lamb breaks silence on Ruth Jones and James Corden's project

Larry Lamb has revealed he's excited for Gavin and Stacey creators Ruth Jones and James Corden's latest project. Earlier this month, it was reported that the legendary telly pair had signed a huge deal with streaming giant AppleTV+.

The pair had hoped to continue working together after the BBC sitcom's triumphant end on Christmas Day last year. A new ten-part comedy series is reportedly in the works, and filming is believed to start next year. Despite the BBC, Netflix, and Amazon Prime's interest, the pair are said to have ultimately decided to go with Apple TV+ due to Corden's relationship with them.

Speaking backstage at the National Television Awards, Ruth told the Mirror and other press that she couldn't confirm the news, hinting that the series would be happening. Now,Larry Lamb, who played Mick Shipman in Gavin and Stacey, has opened up about the possibility of him appearing in the show.

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"I have to say, somebody phoned me up and told me what they'd read in the news. I had not heard anything about it; I'm in the dark," he said. Larry added: "It'll be interesting to see what they've come up, very interesting. I'm probably one of their biggest fans in terms of what they write and the way they write."

When asked if he could appear in the show, he said: "Who knows? Watch this space, right?" Meanwhile, Larry's son George also revealed to us that he would consider a return to TV for the "important" projects.

George's last main role on screens was in 2018, presenting Celebs In Solidarity. Since then, the presenter has been focusing on Wildfarmed, a network of farmers who produce regenerative agriculture, something he's extremely passionate about, which also saw him make a brief appearance on Clarkson's Farm.

"I'm up for making telly about stuff that's important to me," he said. Adding: "There's lots of amazing things about television, it's a huge platform to share ideas and inspire people and get information out there. So if like most things in life, if used properly, I think it can be a wonderful tool.

"If you can find a way to blend entertainment with education." Meanwhile, Larry added that viewers want to see broadcasters whom they can "trust in front of the camera". He said: "In the same way, they understand that the contributors make it obvious to the viewer that they know and trust and open up to you and talk to you. Finding out about the way other people live in the same society is endlessly fascinating and it's why I like to do things that involve people."

Watching George's career take off will always be a highlight for Larry. The actor, who has also appeared in EastEnders, said: "He became so hot at it, so proficient at it, far better than I would have been able to do. It was with great admiration that I followed his career. And then, as I say, I followed his career off into another world, a world that I'm really interested in, and I've learned so much from him, and I have been able to help him."

Meanwhile, George's fondest memory of working with his dad was Britain by Bike, which aired on Channel 5. "We were able to work with all sorts of brilliant people," he said, adding: "Training sheepdogs, abseiling, landing planes on little beaches, we met the most incredible people and we got to explore this beautiful island of ours.

"So often we're in such a rush to jump on a plane and go off to some you know halfway around the world when in fact we've got a beautiful, beautiful country right on our doorstep." But could we see another series in the future? Larry explained that if the call came in, the pair would jump at the chance.

"The thing about that show is always all about the people, as they call them, the contributors," Larry said. He added: "It's not so much about the two people who are introducing it. It's about the people you get to meet and what those people do. So the first thing you've got to do is figure out the scope of what your plan is. What do you want to do? Where do you wanna go? What do you want to talk about with people? You know, how deep do you want to go? And is it all just about their job? Is it just about their life? So there's a huge amount of planning that goes into it. And then of course, you've got all the logistics."

Speaking about his departure from screens, George told us: "I've spent the last 10 years building a regenerative farming business, trying to figure out ways of finding small wins for people so that we can have big impacts on the environmental crisis that's going on at the moment."

He added: "Like a lot of people, it got to a critical point where I felt overloaded with negativity and the horror stories every day when you turn on the television about the world imploding, so I made an active decision to change the way I was living and try and figure out how we can actually do something about it.

"There's lots of wonderful, brave activists who are prepared to go out there and campaign all day, every day, but for a lot of people, that's not a reality for them. And how do we find some access point to this challenge for the majority of people? We've set up a regenerative food and farming business. The food that we grow, the food we put in our mouths, the plates that we're eating that food on? How do we clean them? You know, like we just, just, just making incremental little changes, all of us. Can have a huge compound effect."

"I couldn't be more proud to be perfectly honest," said Larry after George's admission. he continued: "I can remember George talking about wanting to move on out of television and game shows and presenting and music and myself wondering, "What was he going to be doing?' And then little by little, he gradually found his way into the world of growing things and started a charity with a school in the North of London who had a big patch of land, and they developed this charity called Grow, teaching children of all different ages how to grow their own food in an urban situation, where the likelihood of that happening was very slim.

Having teamed up with Ecover, which is releasing the first-ever plastic-free dishwasher tablet, George explained that the campaign couldn't be more fitting for him. Larry said he was a "recent convert" to using the dishwasher, but he had been using Ecover for over three decades.

"I get refills for it because I just picked up on the fact that this was an ecologically sound product 30 years ago; it's always been a part of my life," he said. "I always saw the benefits of it, now I've learnt about using the dishwasher, that's going to double the effectiveness of me standing there with my hands in hot water."

George, however, jokes that how to stack dishwashers is the "$64 million question," due to family disagreements over how to stack them. "I think half the people in the UK have had a fall-out and restacked after a fall-out," he laughed, before saying that Larry is an "architect" when it comes to stacking the family dishwasher, but there had been "tension" over the years.

The campaign, and the dishwasher itself, is a huge bonus for George. "It's an all-round win, if you're stacking it properly and using it economically. Most people are using plastic-based products, so this is a huge jump forward in technology, and I'm super excited! I've spent the last 10 years building a regenerative farming business, trying to figure out ways of finding small wins for people so that we can have big impacts on the environmental crisis that's going on at the moment. And I think this is another brilliant invention from the Ecover team, so I'm delighted to be supporting it and shouting about it."

An Ecover spokesperson said: "At Ecover, we hate waste – water, energy and space. That's why we've launched Tetris: Fully Loaded – to break the cycle of wasteful dishwashing habits and help households wash smarter. As rebels of the cleaning aisle, we love doing things differently – and teaming up with Tetris is a fun, unexpected way to make eco-awareness click with all generations. If it's not full, it's wasteful. So stack it like we pack it – plates facing in, heavy-duty stuff below, nothing blocking the spray arm. Better cleans, less waste, and a game-changing way to rethink your rinse."

Visit Ecover.com to play Tetris: Fully Loaded and find out more about Ecover's new All In One Dishwasher Tablet range.