Gavin and Stacey star Laura Aikman details wedding dress plans to keep Sonia's return secret
Gavin and Stacey' actress Laura Aikman has revealed the lengths she went to in order to keep her character Sonia's return to the BBC show a secret from fans.
‘Gavin and Stacey’ star Laura Aikman has revealed the lengths she went to in order to keep her return to the show a secret.
The 39-year-old actress - who played Smithy’s (James Corden) hated bride Sonia in the beloved BBC sitcom - shocked viewers when she returned in ‘Gavin and Stacey: The Finale’, and has revealed she couldn't even go shopping for her character's wedding dress in to to keep her surprise appearance from fans.
Taking to Instagram, Laura shared a picture of the dress she wore at Sonia’s and Smithy's ill-fated wedding and wrote: “We couldn’t go wedding dress shopping (because of the secrecy), so this was from Vinted, (it probably belonged to someone who watched the show!).
“Shout out to our costume designer #ShanJames who had to alter it massively as 48 hrs before we shot the wedding it didn’t fit.
“Our formidable make up designer #marcuswhitney found me this amazing wig, yes IT’S A WIG. It was fitted and styled by gorgeous @alisonwebbxxmakeup who also did my make up and hid with me.”
Laura’s involvement in ‘Gavin and Stacey: The Finale’ was so closely guarded that not even her own family knew she would appear in the episode.
After the show aired, the actress posted a video of her family’s shocked reactions to Sonia’s return.
She captioned the clip: "I take an NDA very seriously.”
Laura added: “The moment my family realise Sonia is ruining Christmas again.”
One of her family members gasped: “You never told me”, to which Laura replied: “We never told anyone.”
In the episode, it is revealed Smithy got engaged to Sonia after the 2019 ‘Gavin and Stacey’ Christmas special ended on a cliffhanger, with Nessa (Ruth Jones) finally confessing her feelings and asking him to marry her.
However, at his and Sonia's wedding, Smithy realises he loves Nessa, and so leaves his bride fuming at the altar to propose to his true love.
James - who wrote the sitcom with Ruth - previously explained how he and Ruth came up with the “bait and switch” Sonia storyline for ‘The Finale’.
Speaking at a panel in London, he said: “I had this idea at like three o’clock in the morning and I called Ruth and I was like, I wonder if we could trick everybody into thinking that for the first six or seven minutes they’re just going to watch a wedding between Nessa and Smithy.
“Because what was really interesting is after the 2019 special, all that people would say to us was, ‘What does he say?’ They would never say ‘Who did he choose?’ I don’t even think it was in people’s peripheral. These two have been up and down.”
