Ruth Jones has hinted 'Gavin and Stacey' could make a return after chatting about the characters with James Corden.

Ruth Jones

Ruth Jones

The 51-year-old star - who played Nessa Jenkins in the show - recently caught up with the 'Late Late Show' host, who she co-wrote the successful sitcom with, to talk about what the characters would be up to now, prompting speculation there could be a fourth series on the way.

She said: "James and I were talking about this [the characters] the other day.

"I think Baby Neil, who is now probably about 11 ... Nessa is training him down the slots.

"She's training him in the art of the dodgy grabber machine and how to weight the two pences."

If Ruth does end up writing another season of the show - which she and James starred in alongside Mathew Horne, Joanna Page and Larry Lamb - it doesn't look like it will happen this summer because she will be busy writing her second novel, a follow up to this year's 'Never Greener', when she comes up with an idea.

She said: "It's a two-book deal so I'm going to spend the summer writing the second one. But the problem is, I had a screenplay to base this one on, but I've got no idea.

"If anybody has any ideas just let me know."

Ruth was inspired to write books by reading the novels of Jackie Collins, who she named a 'Gavin and Stacey' grandmother character after, and the writer was "really complimented" to have been mentioned on the show.

The 'Stella' star said: "She loved it. She invited me and my husband out for dinner on the back of that. She was really complimented she was in 'Gavin and Stacey'."

After years of penning scripts, Ruth has enjoyed the differences which come with writing a novel and exploring a character's thoughts.

Speaking on ITV's 'Lorraine', she added: "I love writing for screen but when you're writing a novel you get to go inside the character's heads more, in a way that you can't necessarily do on screen.

"So you know what they're thinking and what their attitudes are."