THE child star who played Neil The Baby in TV’s Gavin & Stacey fears he has been dropped from the Christmas special, the last ever episode of Britain’s favourite family sitcom.
Oscar Hartland, 15, was hoping the phone would ring after James Corden (Smithy) and Ruth Jones (Nessa) announced they were making one last show.
But so far Oscar has been overlooked, causing speculation that a new Neil has been brought in.
Oscar was baby Neil in four episodes and again as a ten-year-old in the 2019 Christmas special.
The teenager, from Caerphilly, South Wales, said: “I’m disappointed. I was hoping to get the call. Neil must feature in the final episode because he’s Smithy and Nessa’s son, they can’t write him out. Neil would be 15, the same age as me.”
Oscar, a talented singer and musician, has just released his first single, recorded in the Monmouthshire studio where Queen recorded Bohemian Rhapsody.
The schoolboy, who is studying for his GCSEs, hoped to combine his singing with an acting career and says being dropped from the huge BBC sitcom will only spur him on.
He said: “I loved working on the show although I obviously can’t remember my first spell as baby Neil because I was so young.
“But I had a great time working again when I was ten, especially as I had to have a month off school. All my scenes were with Ruth and she was brilliant with me, we got on really well.
“She was my on-screen mum and my off-screen mum too. She really looked after me.”
His school gave him a stack of homework while he filmed the special for Christmas but the cheeky youngster revealed he didn’t do a bit of it.
He said: “I was too busy having fun and getting my hair done for the shots I was in. I was quite chubby then so I suppose I fitted the bill, Smithy and Nessa would have to have a chubby son.
“I think that’s why I got the part when I was a baby, I was chubby then too.”
His appearances in the Bafta-winning comedy have earned him the nickname Neil, especially at Caerphilly Rugby Club where he plays wing for a junior team.
He said: “A lot of people think Neil is my real name and I have to tell them it’s Oscar. Friends think it’s funny and I don’t mind.
“One of the dads at the rugby club has nicknamed me Hollywood because he thinks that’s where I’ll end up. I hope he’s right.”
Oscar hasn’t given up hope of a call but said: “They filmed the last Christmas Special in August so they can’t be far away.
“But I know that the script is being kept a strict secret and even Joanna Page who plays Stacey hasn’t got a clue where the story is going to go.
“This is my last chance to play Neil because there’s never going to be another episode. I’m glad about that, it will bring closure to the show that everyone has loved for more than 17 years.”
Twenty episodes were broadcast by the BBC between May 2007 and January 2010.
The 2019 Christmas Day special was watched by 18.49million fans, making it the most watched non-sporting event on TV in ten years.
That episode ended with a cliffhanger when Nessa pulled out an engagement ring and proposed to Smithy, so the final edition is expected to reveal if Oscar’s on-screen parents tied the knot.
The story needs to be completed. We all want to know what happened
Oscar said: “The story needs to be completed. We all want to know what happened, and of course, a happy ending for Gavin and Stacey and for Nessa and Smithy.”
By that time Oscar, a Year-10 pupil at St Martin’s Comprehensive School in Caerphilly, is hoping his pop career will have taken off.
His single Sunrise, released online, had more than 10,000 hits and he hopes to follow in the footsteps of his hero Sam Fender.
It was recorded at Rockfield studios, and he got to play the same piano Freddie Mercury used on the 1975 Queen hit Bohemian Rhapsody.
Chris Martin wrote Coldplay’s breakthrough song Yellow there after going out at night and urging his bandmates to “look at the stars”.
Oscar said: “It was a real privilege to record there, it is quite expensive to book a session. I spent two days there and I have to thank my family for putting up the money.
“They have backed me all the way and know how determined I am to make it as a musician.
“To play the same piano as Freddie was just magical. There aren’t many 15-year-olds who can say they’ve done that.”
Until recently Oscar was the frontman of teenage band Redwood City, but he quit to pursue a solo career.
He said: “The rest of the band were fine with it.
Oscar is super talented, I know he will be a star in his own right one day
“I have all these songs in my head and I can’t wait to record them. I’ve done the single and one other but I have enough for an album when the time is right.”
Oscar reached the semi-finals of The Voice Kids in 2023 and was mentored by McFly singer and guitarist Danny Jones.
But his musical hero is Geordie singer-songwriter Sam Fender, who also discovered his love for music in his teenage years.
“Sam is who I really look up to,” said Oscar.
“One of my ambitions is to open for him at a concert. Hopefully someone can arrange that.”
Oscar’s mum Kirsty said: “I’m so proud of him. He doesn’t get pocket money any more because he earns by giving guitar lessons to younger children.”
And on the final episode of Gavin and Stacey she added: “Oscar is super talented, I know he will be a star in his own right one day.”
