Wales

Wales is in flames after a strike at the Port Talbot steelworks spirals out of control, forcing the Driscoll family to flee their home and country. Such is the premise of The Way, by turns doggedly realistic and fantastical, but always highly watchable.

The ambitious three-part BBC One drama, which imagines a civil uprising in Wales, is written by James Graham and marks Michael Sheen’s debut as a TV director. And, unusually, has the creative input of the iconoclastic documentary film-maker Adam Curtis.

Co-created by Michael Sheen (Good Omens), James Graham (Sherwood) and Adam Curtis (HyperNormalisation), the drama follows the journey of one ordinary Welsh family – the Driscolls – dealing with authentic, impossible choices in a turbulent civil landscape.

When a chain of events sparks unrest across the nation, the family are forced to flee the country, leaving behind the lives they have built. Director of BBC Drama Lindsay Salt said the show is “both deeply grounded in its authenticity yet packed with imaginative spirit”.

When Dr Frank Atherton, Wales’s chief medical officer, said in late April that the pandemic curve had not just been flattened, but squashed, it was reassuring on two levels: it signalled to viewers that the Welsh NHS appeared to be over the worst of Covid-19 and it also suggested that our editorial strategy was working.

Dr Atherton had given a number of interviews to various media outlets that day, but only ITV Cymru Wales viewers heard his seminal statement that the Welsh Government’s lockdown measures had “squashed” the virus in Wales.

The Royal Television Society commemorates its 60th year in Wales with an evening dedicated to Swansea-born Russell T Davies on Monday 28 October at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

Russell is responsible for such groundbreaking shows such as Queer As Folk and the multi award-winning A Very English Scandal, starring Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw.

His 2019 drama series Years And Years, set in a near-future where British society teeters on the edge of collapse and starring Emma Thompson and Anne Reid, has received global critical acclaim.

For the third year running, the RTS centre was a partner in the pop-up cinema ‘Sinemaes’.

As part of RTS Cymru Wales’ 60^th anniversary celebrations, the centre hosted a session on classic Welsh language TV comedy.

Part of RTS Cymru Wales' 60th anniversary celebrations, the first event will be held on Monday 5 August at 3.00pm when media commentator Tim Hartley will be introducing clips from half a dozen classics from the TV archives over the past 60 years.
 
Voting forms will be available throughout the week for Sinemaes audiences to pick their favourite programme from the list. The show with the most votes will be shown on Saturday 10 August at 3.30pm.
 

It was the measure of her professionalism and wit that she could offer advice while gently chiding her fellow continuity announcers.

Mari Griffith, though, was much more than a radio announcer. She was, in turn, a singer, presenter, independent producer and, in her later years, a successful novelist. Mari, who has died at the age of 79, was also a long-standing RTS Wales Centre Committee member.

Areas for consideration include casting diverse contributors (with a particular focus on disabled and BAME contributors), appropriate use of language and reflecting the whole of Wales.

This is an opportunity for everyone to share their own experiences and open up the discussion on the challenges and choices around representation.

The free-of-charge event will be held at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff on June 6th.