Gavin and Stacey’s Neil the Baby actor reveals his back up plan after failing his GCSEs

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

Gavin and Stacey’s Neil the Baby star failed his GCSEs – but he’s not too fussed(Image: BBC)

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.

The Gavin and Stacey star doesn’t think his exam disappointment will impact his career plans (Image: BBC)

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.

Oscar made his screen debut as a baby(Image: BBC)

He feels the issue was he simply “hated school” and his head “was always in other places” during his schooling. The aspiring musician believes the system is flawed when it comes to those who aren’t naturally academic.

The final episode of Gavin and Stacey is the UK’s most-watched TV programme shown on Christmas Day in 23 years, figures showed earlier this year.

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 figures have been published by the ratings organisation Barb and includes all people who recorded and watched the programme up to seven days later – the industry standard for measuring TV audiences.

It also includes those who watched on tablets, PCs and smartphones. The brand new Wallace & Gromit adventure Vengeance Most Fowl, which was also shown on BBC One on Christmas Day 2024, was not far behind, pulling in 16.3 million viewers.

The figures mean Gavin & Stacey and Wallace & Gromit have become the top two most-watched scripted programmes of the decade so far, pushing Line of Duty – which attracted 15.8 million for its finale in 2021 – into third place.

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.