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1st August 2024
09:01pm BST
The child star who played Neil the Baby in cult TV show Gavin and Stacey is now unrecognisable years after reprising iconic role.
Oscar Hartland, who is now 15-years-old, first starred in the show in 2008 at the end of season two only months old and appeared in a total of four episodes and reappeared ten years later in 2019 in a Christmas special.
Fans were taken aback in September last year when they ran into the teenager on holiday in Wales, shocked by how "grown up" Oscar appeared and flocked to the comments section to discuss it.
One wrote: "Wow he looks so much older now! Good boy."
Another commented: "Oh my god he's growing too fast."
Meanwhile another user said: "Can't believe that's Neil the baby my god how he's grown."
However, fans hoping to see Neil the Baby make a cameo in the upcoming Gavin and Stacey 2024 Christmas special might be disappointed to hear that he is unlikely to appear in show finale.
The teenager from Caerphilly had his hopes high for one last hurrah as the child of Nessa and Smithy, but is still yet to receive a phone call.
Oscar expressed his disappointment in an interview.
He 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."
As well as experiencing a short, but successful acting career, the teenager is a talented singer and musician who has now released his first single.
The school boy reminisced over his time on the show.
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 with Ruth [Nessa] 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.”
Oscar also revealed why he believes he got the role in the first place and why they called him back when he was 10 years old.
"I was quite chubby then so I suppose I fitted the bill, Smithy and Nessa would have to have a chubby son," he said "I think that’s why I got the part when I was a baby, I was chubby then too.”
His time spent playing Neil the Baby was so iconic that people have given 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.”
Twenty episodes of the show were broadcast by the BBC between May 2007 and January 2010.
In 2019 the Christmas Day special was watched by 18.49 million viewers, becoming the most watched non-sporting event on TV in a decade.
That notorious episode ended won a huge cliff-hanger when Nessa pulled proposed to Smithy, leading to speculation that the final episode is expected to reveal if Oscar’s on-screen parents agree to get married.
All will be revealed this Christmas.
