Former teacher joins Gogglebocs Cymru just a year after heart attack

An award-winning ex-teacher jumped at the chance of a starring role on a reality TV show just a year after suffering a life-threatening heart attack.

The illness forced Luisa Martin-Thomas, 46, from Tonyrefail, to re-evaluate her life and she decided to seize every new experience and “live life to the full”.

The former deputy headteacher is one of the new cast members of the new series of hit S4C programme, Gogglebocs Cymru, and is sharing the sofa with her daughter, Ava, 17.

The first programme in the run, starting at 9pm on Wednesday, October 16, is a special to mark the 50th anniversary of the popular S4C soap opera, Pobol y Cwm.

New households

Luisa and Ava are among seven new households freshening up the Gogglebocs Cymru cast of TV critics this time round.

Once again they will be watching and giving their views on a broad range of programmes from S4C, other channels and streaming services.

There are five episodes being shown in the first run and after a six week break, there will be a celebrity Christmas special on December 27, before a further run of five programmes in March and April next year.

Luisa is now fully recovered from the heart attack which struck last October and she decided to give up her job as a deputy head-teacher and concentrate on the Beddau-based LMT Academy of Performing Arts which she founded 15 years ago.

Teacher of the Year

Luisa, who won a Teacher of the Year award in 2017 when she was working at Tonypandy Community College, said the illness was a huge shock and was potentially life-threatening.

She said: “I was fit and healthy and the illness brought a new perspective to my life. I’ve never been one to sit back while Ava is quite different and tries to tone me down.

“I’m absolutely fine now but I decided to change tack and take every opportunity as they come up and live life to the full.”

One opportunity grasped by Luisa six years ago involved learning how to box and she staged her own tournament, raising thousands of pounds for charity in the process.

“I’m a massive boxing fan and I persuaded some other women to take part and box against each other and we raised £10,000 for MIND, the mental health charity,” she said.

Both Luisa and Ava are looking forward to taking part in the new series of Gogglebocs Cymru.

A Levels

Ava, 17, is currently studying for her A level exams in Welsh, French and History at Ysgol Garth Olwg near Pontypridd and shares her mother’s passion for the arts enjoying singing and ballet.

“We do watch television together but it’s mainly films or reality series like Love Island. Ava saw that Gogglebocs Cymru were looking for new people to take part and said something like ‘fancy us being on that?’ and we said why not and here we are,” added Luisa.

Viewers should look out for Luisa and Ava’s two Golden Retriever dogs, Nancy and Mabel.

Ava said Nancy is a therapy dog and regularly accompanied her mother to school where they provide comfort, distraction, and stimulation for pupils.

“Nancy is well suited to that role as she is very calm while Mabel is the complete opposite, she should be on Dogs Behaving Badly. They may be seen on screen at some point,” she said.

Gogglebocs Cymru is made by two Gwynedd-based television production companies, Cwmni Da, in Caernarfon, and Chwarel, from Cricieth

Series Producer Euros Wyn said the line-up includes several cast members from the last series.

They include John Willliams and his grandson, Cian, from Porthmadog; brothers Huw, Stephen and Mike Williams from Brynaman and Mark Rogers and Carwyn Davies, friends who live in Manchester although Carwyn is originally from Penygroes and Mark from Bangor.

Excited

Euros said: “The old members of the cast are as excited as the new ones about the new series and they are looking forward to getting to grips with the programmes they will be watching.

“For the special to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pobol y Cwm, we’ve decided to invite current and former members of the Pobol y Cwm cast to sit on their sofas and comment on that week’s television as well as our regular cast.

“Also, S4C have gathered together some really iconic moments from Pobol y Cwm, and it will be really interesting to see how our cast reacts to them!” added Euros.

Gogglebocs Cymru starts on S4C on Wednesday, October 16, at 9pm. English subtitles will be available and the programme can also be viewed on S4C Clic, BBC iPlayer and other streaming platforms.