BBC One and HBO fantasy drama His Dark Materials returns for a third and final series before Christmas, but RTS Cymru Wales offered a screening of episode 1 a month earlier at the University of South Wales in Cardiff.
It was a fitting premiere for a series that is made in Cardiff by Bad Wolf, the production company formed by former BBC execs Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter in 2015. Other Bad Wolf dramas include A Discovery of Witches and I Hate Suzie.
Following the screening, RTS Cymru Wales Chair Edward Russell discussed job opportunities in South Wales for local talent with Bad Wolf executive producer Kate Crowther and Allison Dowzell, Managing Director of Screen Alliance Wales.
Crowther joined Bad Wolf in 2020, having produced such award-winning dramas as Doctor Foster and Raised by Wolves. She said: “That we’ve got this really high-end TV [production] out of Wales now is incredible – Bad Wolf has changed the landscape.
“I had to move out of Wales about 10 years into my career to go and work on high-end stuff because it didn’t exist here then. Now there’s no need for talent to leave if they don’t want to.”
Bad Wolf built Wolf Studios Wales in Cardiff and set up the education and training scheme Screen Alliance Wales to train production crews. It is supported by, among others, S4C and HBO.
Dowzell said: “When [Bad Wolf] rooted itself in Cardiff in that studio, [its ambition was] that… everyone would have an opportunity to work in production; there would be no nepotism.”
She added: “There has been a dearth of people coming into the industry but now it’s really building – the amount of production in South Wales is phenomenal.”
Over three series of His Dark Materials, Dowzell revealed that there had been “over 2,000 opportunities” for new talent. One person who has benefited is University of South Wales graduate Razvan Rotaru of Painting Practice, which is based at Wolf Studios Wales and contributed visual effects to His Dark Materials.
Rotaru, a production assistant, worked on the third series. He is part of the Screen Alliance Wales scheme and wants to work in VFX.
He said: “It’s basically like a family… once you finish a project, you can, at any time, go back to Screen Alliance Wales and ask them if there’s anything out there they can help you with. Every time, they have helped me.”
His Dark Materials starts on BBC One on 18 December.
