ITV Behaving Poorly: Another lost opportunity for Welsh acting talent

Stephen Price

A ‘gritty’ ‘Celtic noir’ filmed in Carmarthenshire hits TV screens this weekend, and in a tale as old as time, Welsh acting talent has been sidelined with English actor Martin Clunes taking the lead role and representing Wales to the world.

‘Out There’ is a new six-part ITV and ITVX drama, starring Doc Martin and Men Behaving Badly star Martin Clunes as a farmer confronted with dark forces creeping into his rural community.

The drama is said to depict the invasion of the land the farmer cherishes, with devastating consequences, as his livelihood, homestead and family life are threatened by local county lines drugs dealers: urban gangs using the countryside as a field of operations, moving drugs and money between their inner-city hubs and provincial areas.

Formulaic

With Welsh actors given supporting roles in keeping with the standard formula of Save the Cinema, Pride et al., Martin Clunes plays Welshman Nathan Williams, a man who runs a farm which has been in his family for generations, caught in a numbing rhythm of work and grief following the death of his wife, Sabine, two years previously.

Mark Lewis Jones will star as Nathan’s brother Caleb Williams, Carly-Sophia Davies and Gerran Howell as sister and brother Sadie and Rhys, and Natalia Kostrzewa as Eva, a cleaner who is drawn into the fight against the dark forces.

ITV’s Head of Drama, Polly Hill commissioned the series which will premiere on ITV1 and be available to stream on ITVX.

Surprisingly, the series is helmed by Welsh director Marc Evans, who commented: “We were thrilled to have the support of Creative Wales to produce Out There in my home country.”

Showing his awareness of the importance of supporting home grown talent, he added: “We were able to explore beautiful and rarely seen areas around the Black Mountains and to use local talent for our cast and crew.”

But not for the main role?

Never for the main role?

Having someone imitate another accent and identity now and then is fine – Michael Sheen, Anthony Hopkins et al. would be out of work if they didn’t.

There is an undeniable imbalance in the numbers of Welsh roles available so naturally there are more parts available that require an English or American accent, so the situation isn’t quite the same. To continuously sideline underrepresented Welsh talent in our own stories is getting boring now.

Even more surprisingly than the Welsh director’s support, to me, however, is that the drama was produced in association with Creative Wales

Joedi Langley, Interim Head of Creative Wales, said: “Out There showcases some of Wales’ stunning locations, and is yet another example of first-class drama being made in Wales and utilising Welsh talent at all levels.”

Again, at all levels besides the lead?

Out There may turn out to be a resounding success. For some, no doubt, if he masters the accent it’ll be enough.

Tale as old as time

A biopic of legendary Welsh actor Richard Burton ‘wrapped’ in late 2024, again with the lead roles played by folk from England.

The film is said to tell ‘the moving, untold story of Richard Burton’s formative years and the man who became his guiding hand and inspiration’.

Mr Burton will focus on wild schoolboy Rich Jenkins, the son of a boozy miner, and the English teacher who recognised his talent, Philip Burton – transforming Rich Jenkins into Richard Burton the biggest star Wales has ever produced.

Hammersmith-born Toby Jones, fresh from his acclaimed performance in the TV series Mr Bates vs. The Post Office, will star in the title role, with rising star, and Oxford native, Harry Lawtey playing the young Richard Jenkins.

In a surprise to no one, Welsh actors and actresses were sidelined for this project too, with Aneurin Barnard and Aimee-Ffion Edwards turning up for two supporting roles in order to add a touch of authenticity, or perhaps to shut us up on social media.

I for one am growing tired of watching our talent kept in their place, our accents aped poorly and the continued and offensive missed opportunities to grow another Catherine Zeta Jones or Luke Evans in some sort of industry-approved act of self fulfilling prophecy

“Ah but we need big names, we need bums on seats, what about Welsh people playing other roles?!??!?!” I’ll be told.

Give us a break (literally).

There is no even playing field whereby English language roles in Wales come up often, for one. As a minority people within the UK, if we’re not getting any of the big roles outside of our country, surely we should get a look in on our own turf now and then?

Just like Out There, the film has been financed in partnership with Creative Wales, with Marc Evans helming the movie as director – so why, must I ask again, are English folk playing the lead roles?

History repeating

But then, of course, we also know all too well the long history of Welsh people being overlooked for Welsh roles.

From recent travesties such as Save the Cinema, Bridgend and Gwen, or slightly older films such as Very Annie Mary and The Englishman Who Went up a Hill but Came Down a Mountain right back to the early days of cinema and the abomination that is How Green Was My Valley, movies about Wales and the Welsh without the right approach to Welsh input always fail to gain genuine homegrown acclaim.

To give our roles out to others as if we aren’t a distinct people with a distinct cultural identity is a disrespect on the same level as any other miscasting of marginalised people.

The arts are embedded in Welsh culture, acting prowess is in our blood, and there has never been a shortage of Welsh talent.

When it comes to telling uniquely Welsh stories, our own people are naturally the best people for the job, but the people at the top are happy for us to repeatedly settle for supporting roles.

Imagine the possibilities for our homegrown talent, and for Wales’ representation on the world stage, if we were only given the chance to shine.