Culture

Well-known comedian reveals Welsh roots as he talks of Barry Island summers

11 Aug 2026 2 minute read

Mo Gilligan wearing a black suit in a photography studio. Images taken by Thomas Morgan as portfolio images. This image was apart of his original modelling portfolio when he signed with storm agency.

Amelia Jones

A popular comedian has revealed that he has a strong family connection to Wales in a new BBC Wales radio interview.

Comedian and TV presenter Mo Gilligan, who is best known for his role as a judge on the hit ITV series The Masked Singer has talked about his fond memories of spending the summer in Barry.

He said his mother grew up in the town in the Vale of Glamorgan, although her father had originally settled in Grangetown, Cardiff, after leaving Jamaica.

Gilligan grew up in London and rose to fame after posting observational comedy videos about living in his hometown on social media.

Speaking to Lucy Owen on BBC Radio Wales, he said: “Yeah, so my grandad was from Grangetown in Cardiff, so I’ve got a lot of family in Cardiff, a lot of family in Barry as well, so as a kid I spent loads of six weeks holiday Jackson’s Bay, Barry Island Beach.”

“…No one doesn’t like going to the beach and getting a stick of rock and playing on that kind of penny machine. Yeah, those really, really fun memories, you know?”

He talked fondly about eating chips and the fun fair near the beach, with a special shoutout to the log flume.

Gilligan also reflected on the connection between Barry Island and the hit BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey, which was filmed in and around the Vale of Glamorgan.

The comedian said he was pleased the show had helped put the seaside resort “on the map,” although he felt the Barry Island shown in the series was not quite the same as the one he remembered from his childhood.

Despite his own strong Welsh connections, Gilligan joked that it would have been difficult for the show’s writers to include him in the story.

He said if co-creator James Corden had written him into the series as a “random black cousin,” viewers would have been “mad confused.”

You can listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds here.

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