Huge Gavin & Stacey star secretly welcomes baby ahead of Christmas special
GAVIN & Stacey star Mathew Horne is pictured in public with his son for the first time since becoming a dad.
The actor was spotted with his lad and wife Celina Bassili over the weekend.
Mathew, 45, had not widely broadcast news of his parenthood, keeping it to just family and friends — including his co-stars on the hit BBC1 show.
A source said: “Mathew is a brilliant dad and he and Celina love being parents.
“Celina’s brother has a son who is a similar age and they love spending time together.
“Mathew also kept the news quiet because he prefers to live his life out of the spotlight, even though he’s a household name thanks to Gavin & Stacey.
“All his Gavin & Stacey co-stars know about him being a dad, including James Corden and Joanna Page.
“They all have kids so you can imagine the talk on set for the Christmas special is going to centre a lot on their kids.”
Mathew, who starred in the 2019 Dad’s Army reboot, and Norwegian set designer Celina are believed to have become parents shortly after they wed in 2021.
The day out in London with his family comes as Mathew prepares to return as Gavin for a final time when the hit show comes back in December for a one-off special.
The most recent episode went out in 2019 — nine years after the final full series had screened.
Close pal James, and the show’s other writer and co-star Ruth Jones, chose to stick with the BBC for the special episode, following a bidding war from streaming sites.
After his success with the series, which debuted in 2007, Mathew retreated from the limelight when other projects fared less well.
A sketch show with James, called Horne & Corden, was panned while their comedy film Lesbian Vampire Killers was described as a “witless mess”.
He referred to the time as “the negativity” and said in a rare interview in 2010: “The recovery time for something like that was always going to be quite lengthy.”
But he says he and James remained close after the latter’s success hosting The Late Late Show in the US until last year.
He said: “James remains a friend and never wasn’t a friend.
“We have remained friends ever since we met. We’ve done various bits of work together and now we’re both off doing other things.
“Jealousy isn’t something I do — I am not a jealous person.
“I’m thrilled about the success he’s having.”