A sitcom dreamt up at a wedding is set to become the next trans-Atlantic hit after NBC bought the rights to remake the BBC series Gavin & Stacey.

The story of a whirlwind romance between an Essex boy and a Welsh girl became a cult hit on BBC Three and won British Comedy Awards for its writer-stars.

Critics praised the show, which featured a cast, including Rob Brydon and Alison Steadman, for its observant writing and the programme was swiftly promoted to BBC Two.

NBC, which turned The Office into a prime-time US hit, has acquired the rights to remake Gavin & Stacey from Baby Cow, the production company run by Steve Coogan.

The Alan Partridge star will oversee the US production along with its creators, James Corden, who took a leading role in Alan Bennet’s The History Boys, and Ruth Jones, who appeared in Little Britain.

Corden, 29, told The Times: “It’s really exciting. The idea is that Gavin will come from New Jersey, which has the same relation to New York as Essex does to London.

“Stacey will be from South Carolina. They meet in Times Square. I hope they keep the British names but they may have to change them.”

In the BBC show, the protagonists decide to get married within weeks of meeting on a blind date. Corden and Jones play their unreliable friends. But the chaos caused by Gavin & Stacey’s parents as they prepare for the wedding plays an equal role.

The idea came to Corden during a wedding reception. “I suddenly saw the whole event framed like a picture,” he said. “I wanted to know the stories behind the couple, friends and families.”

Corden and Welsh actress Jones, 41, who met on the ITV drama series Fat Friends, submitted the idea as a one-off play to the BBC but the corporation immediately demanded a full series.

BBC Three has high hopes for the second series which begins this month. Although the £90 million channel was created for a “youth” audience, Gavin & Stacey, which largely avoids bad language, has attracted a cross-generational audience.

Jones and Corden both won Best Comedy Newcomer (female and male) at the British Comedy Awards last December. The second series deals with post-wedding blues and pregnancy.

Corden said he expected Gavin & Stacey to conclude with a Christmas special. But NBC, which extended The Office beyond the original 12 episodes with Ricky Gervais’ approval, is seeking a long-running hit to match its retired classics Friends and Frasier.

The BBC has now asked Corden and Jones to create a sketch show and they are considering film screenwriting offers. With stardom beckoning, auditions are becoming a memory. Corden said: “It’s great that I don’t have to read lines for jobs I don’t want anymore.”

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