Gavin and Stacey fans are eagerly awaiting the show's return this Christmas, but cast member Mathew Horne had a harrowing experience back in 2018. The actor, known for his role as Gavin Shipman, was struck by a train on his way to his parents' home after an evening at the pub.
On December 20 2018, the now 46-year-old actor had a narrow escape when he was clipped by an East Midlands Trains service in Burton Joyce, Nottinghamshire. Miraculously, Horne walked away from the incident with minor injuries. For the latest TV & Showbiz news, sign up to our newsletter
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The incident occurred as Mathew was returning from The Nelson, a local pub. Speaking to The Sun at the time, the pub's duty manager said: "It was a really, really unfortunate accident and it could have been a lot worse. We are all glad that it wasn't.
"He was obviously very shaken up but he's all right now. He's got a bit of a scratch on him but no underlying issue there whatsoever. Mathew is a regular customer of ours. I can say that everybody was quite spirited that night and it's a genuine mishap on his part."
The manager added: "We know Mathew well. We were just making sure that he was OK, as we would with any customer. Mathew wasn't taken to hospital. The police had to be called just because of the nature of the incident. But they were just glad that he wasn't harmed."
The East Midlands Ambulance Service confirmed to the media that their team, including paramedics and a doctor, responded to the call-out and treated an individual at the scene who ultimately did not require hospital admission. A representative from British Transport Police also verified the occurrence, commenting at the time: "The incident was reported to police at 10.37pm and is being treated as non-suspicious. Officers attended the incident along with paramedics and a person was escorted away from the scene."
With the final episode of Gavin and Stacey set to broadcast on Christmas Day, Mathew expressed immense praise for its festive special, describing it as "nothing short of a masterpiece", reports OK!.
He elaborated by saying: "I want to say I was nervous about reading the script as it's always been Ruth's (Jones) and James's (Corden) priority to get the script perfect in the first instance, to tell a story the right way.
"And I had no evidence to suggest that this final script wouldn't adhere to those principles and be anything other than brilliant. I did have a nervous compulsion to read it immediately and my expectations were exceeded."
