Gavin And Stacey star Larry Lamb has admitted his first audition for the role of Mick Shipman on the show did not go to plan.
When he got recalled for a second audition, he channelled advice from his then-partner to win the role in what has become one a massive TV hit.
The actor revealed the BBC series could have been very different because director Christine Gernon initially had doubts when Lamb auditioned.
Lamb, 78, was auditioning for Mick - the father of Mathew Horne's Gavin, and husband of Pam, played by Alison Steadman - in the sitcom
His partner at the time, actress Clare Burt, gave him some advice that helped to impress Gernon in his follow-up audition.
"I did it and she said, 'why are you doing that? Why are you acting that character?’," Lamb said of Burt.
"This character’s you, just be you, you have gone in there and you have lost the job basically because you are pretending to be somebody who is not you.
"She said they are a really happy, upper-working class family, very representative of working Britain.
"They have a great life together, they absolutely love each other, and they have a lot of great sex - just be that person.
"So, I went in, and I was that person and I got the gig because that’s what he’s like, he is me and I’m him."
Lamb was speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival at an event alongside his son George to promote his debut novel, All Wrapped Up.
He said for his second Gavin And Stacey audition he recorded scenes with Steadman.
"They were looking for the chemistry between the two of us that was going to have to work," he said.
"All of a sudden I was in this thing which has become what it is now. It literally changed my life and changed all their lives."
Lamb said that after the first series of Gavin And Stacey he had not yet been given a contract for a second series and was offered the role of villain Archie Mitchell in EastEnders.
"They got to the point where Gavin And Stacey was going on, and that caused all sorts of hoo-ha because they had to do what they never do, and I could do both," Lamb said.
"The boss of the BBC, her name was Jay Hunt, she knew they had a bit of gold in Gavin And Stacey so as far as she was concerned EastEnders will cope.
"I was really fortunate because there was a time years before, if that had happened, you would have to make a choice, one or the other."
Gavin And Stacey spanned three series between 2007 and 2010 following the lives of Essex-born Gavin and his Welsh wife Stacey and their friends and family.
It then returned for a Christmas special in 2019 and a finale last Christmas.
The final episode saw Neil "Smithy" Smith, played by co-writer James Corden, finally decide to marry Vanessa "Nessa" Jenkins, played by fellow co-writer Ruth Jones, after leaving Sonia (Laura Aikman) at the altar.
One of Lamb’s scenes in the last episode where Smithy asks for his opinion before deciding not to marry Sonia, was nominated for the 2025 Bafta memorable moment award.
Source: Press Association
