James Corden and Ruth Jones turned down 'tempting' offer from Netflix for Gavin and Stacey

James Corden and Ruth Jones turned down a "tempting" offer from Netflix for the 'Gavin and Stacey' comeback.

The 45-year-old actor penned the BBC Three sitcom with his former 'Fat Friends' co-star and it was recently announced that the show will make a long-awaited return to screens as a Christmas special but insiders have now claimed that even though the writing duo had "conversations" with the streaming giant before deciding that it "belonged" to its original broadcaster.

A source told The Sun newspaper's TVBiz column: "They held conversations with Netflix who threw everything at them to land what is seen as a gem of British comedy.

"James, Ruth and the team were effectively offered a multi-million pound one-off deal, and were promised it would open the show up to a whole new international audience.

“Obviously it was tempting, but they felt 'Gavin and Stacey' belonged to the BBC — and the nation, really.

"The optics wouldn’t have been great had they ‘sold out’ so they went with their hearts, not the cash."

The show - which also stars 'Loose Women' panellist Joanna Page, former 'Catherine Tate Show' actor Mathew Horne alongside TV legends Alison Steadman and Larry Lamb - initially ran from 2007 until 2010 and was last seen in 2019 for a festive one-off but will be back on the box once more for the last episode dubbed ‘Gavin and Stacey: The Finale’.

Taking to Instagram, James wrote: “It's official! We have finished writing the last ever episode of ‘Gavin and Stacey’.

“See you on Christmas Day, BBC One. Love Ruth and James (sic).”

The news came shortly after it was rumored that the show was making a comeback, but Ruth theorized that the story had come to fruition after she had been spotted with James in the UK after he finished his stint as the host for ‘The Late Late Show’.

She told RTE Radio 1: "Then the next thing is, ‘Oh my god they must be writing more ‘Gavin and Stacey’, which is lovely.

“It’s lovely that people are so desperate for it because imagine if it was the opposite and were like, ‘Oh, god, you’re not bringing that back again.’"