The BBC has been forced to defend its decision to broadcast scenes from theChristmas Special of Gavin and Stacey where a “homophobic slur” was used – despite receiving nearly 900 complaints about the episode.
In one scene where characters Bryn and Nessa (played by Rob Bryden and co-writer Ruth Jones) sing festive karaoke at the pub, the term “f—got” is used during a rendition of The Pogues’ famous Christmas song, Fairytale of New York.
Fans of the show took to Twitter to express their disappointment at the time, with one writing “There just wasn't a need for Gavin and Stacey to air the f--got line. There just wasn't.”
“It upset me to say the least, not because it offended me but just because of the thought of a word that’s is so haunting to many being blasted into the lounge of so many closeted queer children,” said another.
And now the Beeb have confirmed they received a huge number of complaints after the programme aired – but have refused to issue an apology.
CHECK OUT: Gavin and Stacey - where are they now?
Here's what the cast of Gavin and Stacey are doing now... SLIDER with cover pic
1 of 15Gavin
2 of 15Mathew Horne - a.k.a Gavin, then
Viewers saw Mathew's character, Gavin, fall in love with Stacey pretty quickly - he drove all the way to Barry to surprise her after their night together. We saw the couple laugh, row and welcome a baby. N'aww.
3 of 15And this is him now...
Mathew's come a long way from playing good ol' Gav - he's now playing Young Mr Grace in Are You Being Served and continues to collaborate with James Corden on a number of projects which included hosting The Brits in 2009.
4 of 15Joanna Page - a.k.a Stacey, then
Joanna smashed it as Stacey; the bubbly girl from Barry who got engaged five (yes, five) times before she met the love of her life Gavin. Bless her.
5 of 15And this is her now...
Similar to her character Stacey, Joanna settled down in real life too and is now mum to three children - a daughter, Eva, and her two sons, Kit and Noah.
6 of 15James Corden - a.k.a Smithy, then
Err, James Cordon as Smithy was absolutely hilarious tbh. He kept us entertained with his dancing, love for Gavin and love/hate relationship with Nessa.
7 of 15And this is him now... (along with the star of one of his majorly successful Carpool Karaoke's, Selena Gomez)
Do we really need to fill you in on this one? No, probably not, because he's everywhere. But incase you've been in hiding under a rock for the past few years, James has been doing pretty much EVERYTHING and has a majorly successful US TV programme - The Late Late show.
8 of 15Ruth Jones - a.k.a Nessa, then
Oh, what's occurring? Need we say more? Ruth was brilliant as Nessa; fierce and hilarious and as much as we saw how happy she was with Dave, we always knew Smithy was the one that truly had her heart.
9 of 15And this is her now...
She is arguably one of the funniest Welsh people to have ever lived, and since Gavin and Stacey Ruth has lived in Cardiff with her husband and three grown-up stepchildren.The actress has also been appointed an MBE - go Ruth!
10 of 15Larry Lamb - a.k.a Mick Shipman, then
Larry is a prime example of a good actor. Despite seeing him play Archie Mitchell in EastEnders, we couldn't help but fall in love with Mick from Essex. Unlike Archie Mitchell, Mick actually loved his family...
11 of 15And this is him now...
Since Gavin and Stacey, Larry has embarked upon all kinds of work; he appeared in New Tricks and I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! alongside Scarlett Moffatt.
12 of 15Alison Steadman - a.k.a Pamela Shipman, then
Alison's character Pam was probably the most iconic of them all. We loved her that she made to pretend to be a vegetarian up until the Christmas special where she finally told everyone she was eating meat - they all (minus Gwen) knew.
13 of 15And this is her now...
Since Gavin and Stacey ended, Alison has appeared in Orphan Black in 2015 and currently lives in Highgate, London with her partner Michael Elwyn.
14 of 15Rob Brydon - a.k.a Bryn West, then
Ahh, Rob as Bryn was an absolute classic. There's so many hilarious moments of him to choose from but whenever we think of him our first thought is, of course, the Gavin and Stacey fishing trip...
15 of 15And this is him now...
Long gone are the days of Bryn as a humble telly actor. Rob has since gone on to star in Hollywood movies including The Huntsmen: Winter's War (he played Gryff) and he played Master Phineus in the real life version of Cinderella.
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“The descent of their relationship is reflected in the increasingly abusive and offensive terms they use to address each other; insults which are intended to reflect the language that such characters might have used in that era,” they said,
"The origin of the word includes a definition which describes it as a contemptuous and antiquated word for laziness, and the author of the song has cited this inference behind his inclusion of that line."
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They added, "While the word ‘f--got’ is now widely acknowledged as having the potential to offend, the song never suggests or implies that this is, or was ever, an appropriate way to address another person, nor does it link it to homosexuality."
We were SO excited when we heard that James Corden and Ruth were bringing us a special Christmas episode of one of our favourite shows OF ALL TIME after ten years off our screens – not least because we thought we would FINALLY find out what really happened on Uncle Bryn’s fishing trip.
Viewers were on the edge of their seats when Bryn and Jason finally prepared to reveal what actually happened but they were cut short when all the kids ran into the living room.
Sob. Hopefully one day we'll find out what happened.