The team of Gavin and Stacey had to put their sleuthing skills to the test to find an actor who appeared in the first seasons of the BBC show in the Christmas Day finale.
Their search was further complicated by the fact that Daniel Jeffrey, who played one of Gavin (Matthew Horne) and Smithy’s (James Corden) primary school friends, had given up the entertainment industry and changed his name.
However, James revealed in the BBC documentary A Beautiful Goodbye that a casting director eventually found Daniel, now a lawyer, and agreed to reprise the role of Simon in Smithy’s film.
Fans will remember that Simon was part of the best friend duo Gary N’ Simon, with Gary played by Jason Gregg, and appearing briefly in the first two seasons.
During a sweet farewell, James noted that it was fitting for Daniel to return as Simon to complete Smithy’s circle of friends in the final episode of Gavin and Stacey.
However, the search was complicated because Daniel had previously used the nickname “Knightley” when working as an actor, and had now turned his back on his previous career.
“This is Gary and Simon, the original Gary and Simon,” James explained. Lauren, the casting director, did some detective work to track you down.
Danielle added: “I actually can’t believe she found me. I had the stage name Danielle Knightley because I was working in film at the time and I felt like I needed a better name.”
“So, I just got to a poster of Keira Knightley and said to myself, ‘I’m going to be Danielle Knightley,’ so I didn’t have the same name.”
She tracked me down from the police to being a lawyer, and contacted my chambers, who then said, ‘You’ve been contacted by someone from an acting agency.’
“And I said to myself, ‘This can only be one thing,’ because I was only involved in one thing.”
Daniel has now been a solicitor in London for over four years. He was previously a police officer at the Met, Thames Valley and the Ministry of Defence, according to his Linkedin.
He posted a selfie with James on the career networking site and wrote: “What a crazy few weeks!” I spent my night watching the documentary about saying goodbye and seeing myself emerge as I now look through the papers as I return to the real world.
“Life is an interesting adventure if you try your best and go after things!”
Gavin and Stacey: A Fond Farewell told the story of how the show became one of Britain’s best-loved sitcoms through interviews with the cast, celebrity fans including Lena Dunham, and never-before-seen behind-the-scenes footage.
The trailer ended with the cast getting together before the final day of filming, with James telling them it was “something to be really proud of”.
“I don’t know if you as actors in this room know how much Ruth and I owe you for the success of the show,” he told the cast.
“We’d write a scene for days, and then you’d go, I don’t know if this is right, I don’t know if it’s good enough, and then you would put it in your voices and it would just be fine.
“And then to come back and do this, I don’t know, it feels very, very special, and I feel very lucky to be able to create this for, well, such an amazing group of people.”
Gavin and Stacey: The finale saw Smithy finally decide to marry Nyssa, played by series co-writer Ruth Jones, after his wedding to Sonia was aborted at the altar, while Stacey’s mother Gwen West (Melanie Walters) was revealed to be in a secret relationship. With my coach Dave (Stefan Rhodri).
Gavin and Stacey is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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