Rob Brydon in Gavin & Stacey. (BBC)
Rob Brydon says he believes his Gavin & Stacey Bryn is gay, addressing the character’s sexuality after years of fan speculation.
The Welsh actor played Bryn West, the kind-hearted uncle to Stacey Shipman, for more than a decade.
The BBC sitcom alluded to Bryn’s sexuality throughout with vague jokes often involving gay stereotypes – such as West’s love for Desperate Housewives and Sex and the City. There was also a long-running mystery surrounding a fishing trip Bryn took with his gay nephew, Jason.
Appearing on the Table Manners podcast Wednesday (29 December), Brydon said he wouldn’t be surprised if Bryn was gay – but that it’s ultimately up to the audience to decide.
“There’s a part of me that doesn’t want to say anything,” he told hosts Jessie and Lennie Ware, “because I think it should be in the mind of the audience.
“Obviously they have written it… but if it’s not ambiguous, is it? I mean, I’d be surprised if Bryn wasn’t gay. But I wonder if he’s just never acted on it?
“They’ve [Gavin & Stacey writers James Corden and Ruth Jones] never said to me [whether he was gay or not] – it’s just what’s there in the script.
“But you know, the way he gazes at Larry Lamb, at Mick, though he’s a lovely looking boy.”
“I think it’s for the audience to decide for themselves,” he added.
Gavin & Stacey stirred criticism with its most recent outing, the 2019 Christmas special.
During the episode, Bryn was joined on stage by Ruth Jones’ Nessa to perform a karaoke duet of The Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York”, which includes the lyric: “You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy f****t.”
After James Corden’s character, Smithy, enthusiastically shouts “I love this part!”, the cameras switch to Brydon timidly singing the controversial lyric.
Following more than 900 complaints for offensive language, the BBC defended its decision not to censor the slur, claiming it “isn’t linked to homosexuality”.
But it an about-turn, the BBC eventually scrubbed the slur from reruns of the special, and from its streaming service, BBC iPlayer.