Gavin and Stacey’s Ruth Jones on huge turning point for show
Gavin and Stacey's festive specials have Brits glued to their screens yet again, with a resurfaced snippet from the hit series' second episode sending shockwaves through social media. Fans were struck by an eerily prescient moment approximately eight minutes into the show, where the character Nessa seems to cryptically allude to the scandalous revelations surrounding ex-Harrods chief Mohammed Al Fayed.
Viewers have dug up Nessa's past on-screen quips, which appear to foretell the sordid events linked to Al-Fayed some 15 years before they came to light.
Typically, mid-omelette and schooling Stacey )Joanna Page) on love woes, Nessa's prophecy-like words resonate with the disturbing accusations. She divulges: "This is what happens when's you mix work and relationships, I remember when I was working in Harrods."
Her recount continues with a grave familiarity: "I got involved with the boss, and I mean the big boss. Crackin' little fella, used to take me to the football every Saturday, couldn't do enough for me. As soon as he got what he wanted, down there like (as Nessa points to her crotch), he didn't want to know, tried palming me off to his son, and he was trouble."
The saga doesn't end there as Nessa chillingly adds: "Kept texting me every day from his boat. In the end, I had to say to him 'Oh! Back off'. Give him his dues, he did. I've not heard a peep from him since, and I'm talking years," reports the Daily Star.
Ruth Jones, the co-writer and actress behind Nessa in the series, revealed in 2009: "What's interesting is that people assume they know who Nessa is referring to in her past a lot of the time, but in fact, they get it wrong. For example, we have never mentioned the actual name Mohamed Al Fayed. Or Richard Madeley. But people have made assumptions about them."
The once light-hearted reference in the popular show now casts a shadow amid serious allegations.
Viewers have been expressing their shock online. One viewer commented, "Nessa talks of Mohammed al Fayed being a dirty old man who took what he wanted from her."
Another remarked: "Rewatching Gavin and Stacey and turns out Nessa had a fling with Al Fayed. Wonder how consensual it was?"
Mohamed Al Fayed has been accused by over 100 women of sexual abuse, rape, and fostering a "toxic" work environment, earning him the label of a "monster".
Al Fayed died in 2023 at the age of 94, but not before a slew of assault allegations surfaced against him.
At a press conference addressing the accusations, barrister Dean Armstrong KC stated: "I have many years of practice but I have never seen a case as horrific as this. We will say plainly, Mohammed Al Fayed was a monster."
Barrister Bruce Drummond stated: "This is one of the worst cases of corporate sexual exploitation that certainly I, and perhaps the world, has ever seen. It was absolutely horrific and I can't stress that word enough."
