{"id":209158,"date":"2025-10-18T16:07:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T16:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/209158\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T16:07:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T16:07:08","slug":"larry-lamb-says-ex-partners-advice-helped-him-land-gavin-and-stacey-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/209158\/","title":{"rendered":"Larry Lamb says ex-partner\u2019s advice helped him land Gavin And Stacey role"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gavin And Stacey star Larry Lamb has admitted his first audition for the role of Mick Shipman did not go to plan.<\/p>\n

When he got recalled for a second audition, he channelled advice from his then-partner to win the role in the show.<\/p>\n

The actor revealed the BBC series could have been very different because director Christine Gernon initially had doubts when Lamb auditioned.<\/p>\n

\"LarryLarry Lamb was appearing at the Cheltenham Literature Festival alongside his son George Lamb (Ian West\/PA)<\/p>\n

Lamb, 78, was auditioning for Mick \u2013 the father of Mathew Horne\u2019s Gavin, and husband of Pam, played by Alison Steadman \u2013 in the sitcom.<\/p>\n

His partner at the time, actress Clare Burt, gave him some advice that helped to impress Gernon in his follow-up audition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did it and she said, \u2018why are you doing that? Why are you acting that character?\u2019,\u201d Lamb said of Burt.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis character\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said they are a really happy, upper-working class family, very representative of working Britain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a great life together, they absolutely love each other, and they have a lot of great sex \u2013 just be that person.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I went in, and I was that person and I got the gig because that\u2019s what he\u2019s like, he is me and I\u2019m him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lamb was speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival at an event alongside his son George to promote his debut novel, All Wrapped Up.<\/p>\n

Today is the launch of my first novel <\/p>\n

All Wrapped Up<\/p>\n

Thank you to everyone who has ordered it and I really hope you like it pic.twitter.com\/Ll9n71cTf0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Larry Lamb (@larrylamb47) April 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

He said for his second Gavin And Stacey audition he recorded scenes with Steadman.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were looking for the chemistry between the two of us that was going to have to work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey 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,\u201d Lamb said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LarryLarry Lamb alongside Gavin And Stacey co-star Alison Steadman, who played together Mick and Pam Shipman (Ian West\/PA)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

It then returned for a Christmas special in 2019 and a finale last Christmas.<\/p>\n

The final episode saw Neil \u201cSmithy\u201d Smith, played by co-writer James Corden, finally decide to marry Vanessa \u201cNessa\u201d Jenkins, played by fellow co-writer Ruth Jones, after leaving Sonia (Laura Aikman) at the altar.<\/p>\n

One of Lamb\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n