A 15-year-old Gavin and Stacey clip has resurfaced with Nessa seemingly uncovering a scandal that shook the country
08:24, 08 Jan 2025Updated 08:28, 08 Jan 2025
A 15-year-old clip from Gavin and Stacey seems to predicts the horrific allegations against Mohammad Al Fayed(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Everyone has been talking about Gavin and Stacey this Christmas. That’s led many to rewatch the show and a little-remembered scene from the second ever episode has caught many people’s attention.
In the clip, just eight minutes in, Nessa seemingly predicting the dark events of the disgraced former Harrods boss Mohammed Al Fayed.
The Welsh icon’s fortune-telling abilities have been unearthed as the illusive character seems to have foreknowledge of his alleged sickening behaviour 15 years before it was uncovered.
Typically, while eating an omelette and lecturing Stacey on relationships, Nessa comes harrowingly close to the allegations. She said: “This is what happens when’s you mix work and relationships, I remember when I was working in Harrods.
“I got involved with the boss, and I mean the big boss. Crackin’ little fella, used to take me to the football every Saturday, couldn’t do enough for me. As soon as he got what he wanted, down there like (as Nessa points to her crotch), he didn’t want to know, tried palming me off to his son, and he was trouble.
The shows second episode first aired in 2007(Image: PA)
“Kept texting me every day from his boat. In the end I had to say to him ‘oh! Back off’. Give him his dues, he did. I’ve not heard a peep from him since, and I’m talking years.”
The show’s co-writer and Nessa actress Ruth Jones in 2009 said: “What’s interesting is that people assume they know who Nessa is referring to in her past a lot of the time but in fact, they get it wrong. For example, we have never mentioned the actual name Mohamed Al Fayed. Or Richard Madeley. But people have made assumptions about them.”
And now even that throwaway anecdote in the beloved series seems ominous.
Al Fayed was the boss of Harrods from 1985 until 2010(Image: Getty Images)
Many have flooded X with their views on the scene. One said: “Nessa talks of Mohammed al Fayed being dirty old man Who took what he wanted from her.” Another said: “Rewatching Gavin & Stacey and turns out Nessa had a fling with Al Fayed. Wonder how consensual it was??”
Al Fayed was branded a “monster” as more than 100 woman came forward accusing the late businessman and Fulham owner of sexual abuse, rape and breeding a “toxic” work culture.
Al Fayed, died in 2023 aged 94 but has been accused of a myriad of assaults by a number of women. Among the new claims is a woman who says she was assaulted by Mr Al Fayed in Dubai in 1977, the earliest accusation of abuse so far.
Ruth Jones who plays Nessa hasn’t confirmed the joke was about Al Fayed(Image: PA)
One victim described the Egyptian national’s 25-year-rule as a “lion’s den” of depravity with many young female staff accusing the business of procuring them for his sexual gratification.
In a press conference about the case, barrister Dean Armstrong KC said: “I have many years of practice but I have never seen a case as horrific as this. We will say plainly, Mohammed Al Fayed was a monster.”
Barrister Bruce Drummond added: “This is one of the worst cases of corporate sexual exploitation that certainly I, and perhaps the world, has ever seen. It was absolutely horrific and I can’t stress that word enough.”