Oscar Hartland, 16, who played Nessa and Smithy’s son Neil in the hugely popular show Gavin and Stacey, picked up just two passes when he got his grades this week
Oscar Hartland, the 16 year old actor who played Baby Neil in Gavin and Stacey alongside James Corden and Ruth Jones, has failed his GCSEs – but he has a back-up plan!
The young star, who portrayed Nessa and Smithy’s son Neil in the hit series, only managed to pass two subjects when he received his results this week.
Despite this, Oscar remains unfazed and has decided to leave school to focus on a career in show business, combining his passions for singing and acting.
Like many other teenagers, Oscar, who appeared in The Voice Kids when he was 14 and reached the semi-finals, collected his GCSE results this week, but only came away with two passes. He earned an A grade in music and just about passed English, his two preferred subjects.
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Oscar commented: “I got a whopping two! But I’m happy with that, I wanted a top grade in music, and that’s what I got. I’m the first to admit I’m not an academic, and if I’m honest, I didn’t try that hard”.
He went on to tell the Mail Online that he’s ready to make it as a musician in a band “the hard way” – adding: “Is an executive at one of the top recording labels going to ask me about my GCSE results? I don’t think so”.
Oscar entered the world of showbiz fresh out the womb, when he appeared in four episodes of Gavin and Stacey as Neil the Baby, the product of a one-night stand between Smithy and Nessa.
He returned to the nation’s favourite sitcom as a 10-year-old Neil the Baby in the 2019 Christmas special and again in 2024 as a teen. The gifted schoolboy had a starring role in the final episode last Christmas when he sang the Beatles’ song Blackbird while playing the guitar, watched by a staggering 19.1m viewers.
Oscar, however, doesn’t attribute his lacklustre GCSE results at St Martin’s Comprehensive in Caerphilly, South Wales, to the distractions of his television career.
He feels the issue was he simply “hated school” and his head “was always in other places” during his schooling. The aspiring musician believes that those who aren’t naturally academic are subject to a flawed system.
According to earlier this year’s statistics, Gavin and Stacey’s final episode is the most watched TV program in the UK on Christmas Day in 23 years.
Official ratings for the sitcom’s 90-minute farewell, which was the centrepiece of BBC One’s 2024 festive schedules, are 19.1 million. This is the biggest audience for a Christmas Day broadcast on UK television since the episode of Only Fools & Horses on December 25 2001, which attracted 21.3 million viewers.
The ratings agency Barb has released the figures, which include everyone who watched and recorded the program up until seven days later, which is the industry standard for determining TV audience size.
Additionally, those who watched on smartphones, PCs, and tablets are included. Vengeance Most Fowl, a brand-new Wallace &, Gromit adventure, did well to win 16.3 million viewers on Christmas Day 2024.
The figures place Gavin & Stacey and Wallace & Gromit in third place, surpassing Line of Duty, which attracted 15.8 million viewers for its 2021 finale, with the top two most-watched scripted programs of the decade.
The biggest TV audience of the 2020s remains the broadcast by former prime minister Boris Johnson on March 23 2020 announcing the first Covid-19 lockdown, which was shown simultaneously on six TV channels and drew an average audience of 28.3 million.
Source: Mirror
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