GAVIN and Stacey star and comedian Rob Brydon has dismissed rumours that the British sitcom will be returning to screens, but added he would “love it if it were true”.

The show originally ran from 2007 to 2010 with a premise of one long-distance relationship between Gavin from Billericay in Essex and Stacey from Barry, Vale of Glamorgan in Wales.

Returning after nearly a decade, the 2019 festive special episode by the New Year had been viewed by 17.1 million people making it the most viewed scripted programme of the decade.

Rob Brydon, who played Uncle Bryn in the series, speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, said: “I get asked about this on every interview I ever do”.

“I sound like a politician, as far as I’m aware it’s another rumour. I don’t know. I mean, I’d love it if it were true.”

US outlet Deadline reported on Tuesday that the new special was in development and or pre-production stages.

The deadline report said the episode would be produced by Steve Coogan’s Baby Cow, Jones’s Tidy Productions and Fulwell 73, which is co-owned by James Corden who co-wrote the series and starred as ‘Smithy’.

However, the show’s co-creator Ruth Jones who starred as ‘Nessa’ denied these claims on Wednesday in an interview with RTE Radio 1 and said they were “sadly a rumour”.