"If it wasn't for my relationship with John Prescott, I'd probably still be in that jail"

Besides a trip to the Y fitness center and now listening to the SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS and the LOS ANGELES DODGERS in Spring Training action on the radio, I have spent a rare Monday off enjoying the masterful work of RUTH JONES and JAMES CORDEN.
Jones and Corden (pictured) created and wrote the 2007 British sit-com "GAVIN & STACEY," easily one of my favorite shows of the (still relatively new) millennium.
The title characters, played by Mathew Horne (Gavin) and Joanna Page (Stacey), are lovebirds who forge a long-distance relationship -- he is in Essex, she is in Wales.
Besides writing the show, Jones and Corden play Nessa and Smithy, respective best friends of Stacey and Gavin.
It is such a well-written series.
In one of the audio commentaries on DVD, Corden explained that the pair wanted to create a comedy with the sensibility and production values of a British drama.
There is a real heart at the center of the show -- evidenced both by the chemistry of Horne and Page and the genuine friendship you feel between Gavin and Smithy and Nessa and Stacey.
I would have watched all six of the first-season episodes on my day off today, but these gems should be savored.