After the tidy response to the Gavin and Stacey Christmas special, which saw the return of the beloved BBC sitcom after almost a decade off our screens, its co-creator James Corden has hinted that it may now return for a full fourth series.

Oscar Hartland, who stars in the show as Neil “the baby” – the son of Smithy (Corden) and Nessa (co-creator Ruth Jones) – told presenters on Good Morning Britain that he asked Corden whether Gavin and Stacey could make a full series comeback, and Corden replied that it might happen if it’s “what the people want”.

Hartland said: “I did ask James in the process of filming. He said it’s just what the people want.” He continued: “Me, I would love it to happen. It really depends what other people think about it and whether they like it or not.”

The Christmas special was watched by 11.6 million people, making it the most popular Christmas Day TV show of the decade, and ended on a romantic cliffhanger after Nessa confessed her love to Smithy.

Since Gavin and Stacey went off air in 2010, Corden has gained fame in the US, presenting The Late Late Show With James Corden and regularly going viral with the segment Carpool Karaoke. He is currently starring as Bustopher Jones in the movie Cats, which has been widely ridiculed, the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw describing it as a “purr-fectly dreadful hairball of woe”. The film’s shocking sexuality has also been nakedly mocked; one critic described it as being “two seconds away from turning into a furry orgy in a dumpster”.