Welsh version of hit TV show Gogglebox coming to S4C
S4C is launching a Welsh language version of the hit Channel 4 series Gogglebox later this year.
Gogglebocs Cymru will launch in the autumn after the Welsh broadcaster agreed a deal with Channel 4 and Studio Lambert, the production company behind the award winning show.
Applications were opened today for production companies to tender for the Welsh version of the series which launched on Channel 4 in March 2013 – and watches normal people watching TV.
S4C’S Chief Content Officer, LLinos Griffin-Williams, said: “I am thrilled that Channel 4 has, for the first time, made an exception with one of their most valued formats, by agreeing to release exclusivity of Gogglebox in the UK to S4C.
“As two public service broadcasters, with a close and collaborative working relationship, we are delighted to be entrusted with such an important brand.”
Casting
The broadcaster says casting for the series “will need to reflect modern Wales in its entirety” and says the series will play a key role in the year of the Channel’s 40th birthday. Its aim with the casting process will be to celebrate Welsh characters around Wales and Welsh speakers in and around the rest of the UK.
There have been 19 series of Googlebox on Channel 4, since it launched, with series 20 arriving in September.
As part of the agreement between Channel 4 and S4C, Gogglebocs Cymru will be transmitted in late Autumn 2022 in a non-competitive transmission slot trailing the upcoming Channel 4 series.
Versions of Gogglebox have also been successful in Australia, America, Canada, Finland, Ireland and Poland.
The Russian version called Диван (translated as “The Couch”) premiered in 2017 and only aired for one season consisting of 8 episodes.
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
Gogglebox is alright I suppose, but along with “Taffs and Daffs” S4C seems to be moving towards Lowest Common Denominator programming. I can’t say this fills me with joy. But as its English counterpart Channel 4 has proven, people watch that carp! Especially younger people. Might invigorate the viewing figures and portray a more modern vision of Cymru (Taffs and Daffs notwithstanding). So long as we don’t get Pobol y Cwm in the style of Hollyoaks melodrama. That would be too much. Still, if we are aping C4 populist programming, perhaps we can have the equivalent of their excellent news… Read more »
Aim for the top, not rush to the bottom
Absolutely. But with the Tories “revenge sell-off” likely, they and C4 need to make themselves attractive to potential buyers and high viewing figures makes high ad revenue and profit potential. And the British (also maybe the Welsh) public loves this kind of low cost bubblegum for the eyes type programming. I don’t like it, but I am afraid it makes commercial sense in light of the Tories’ spite