Gogglebox stars Giles and Mary’s fundamental ‘incompatibility’ in marriage

Giles Wood and Mary Killen have been fan favourites for viewers of Channel 4’s hit fly-on-the-wall series Gogglebox over the past nine years, with many viral moments together due to their bluntness and their many clashes. 

However, it seems that the on-screen dynamic we see between Giles and Mary is rooted in something much deeper about their marriage of more than 30 years.

The beloved couple shared some of their diary entries from 2016 with MailOnline a few years ago, and they reveal that the pair have been on a rather bumpy ride with their marriage, especially before joining Gogglebox. 

© HGL

Giles wrote: “Working together on Gogglebox – watching telly at the same time – meant Mary and I suddenly no longer lived like two intimate strangers,” highlighting their misaligned daily schedules as a reason for their drift.

“It has definitely saved our marriage,” he added.

The artist also pointed out that these issues were nothing new, noting: “The signs of incompatibility were always there: Mary is upwardly mobile and socially incontinent, while I am downwardly mobile,” also citing their difference in interests as an issue.

Giles and Mary agree on their incompatibility

Mary also had a lot to say about their marriage in her diary entries, writing: “While we wait for each Gogglebox programme to begin, we end up chatting to each other, amounting to about three hours a week in total.”

© Channel 4

She also believed that being a part of Gogglebox had helped to bring them together again, adding: “But we had got out of the habit of discussing things. Gradually we realised we were enjoying the Gogglebox preambles – indeed they became an essential cog in the wheels of  our marriage because we had to take it in turns to speak. And then we realised that we had a huge amount in common.”

Giles opened up about their issues more recently

In an interview with Idler last year, Giles opened up about feeling incredibly lonely in their marriage, eight years after these diary entries were written.

© David Fisher/Shutterstock

“You see, I’ve had six months of not talking to anyone,” he wrote. “That’s the thing about living in the country – who do you talk to? The pub’s shut. I don’t go to church. Who am I supposed to talk to?”

When prompted that he could talk to Mary, he joked: “Mary hardly talks to me at all because we’re incompatible. The only time we talk is to say, ‘Shall we watch Netflix or Apple TV tonight?’ We’re basically distracting our lives away.”

See the Gogglebox cast react to With Love, Meghan…