In The Words Of

from Cardiff Times February 2020

And Another Thing

“in the words of…”

By Carl Marsh

I hope you are all now settled into this new year of 2020? January was somewhat quiet for me as I bet it was for most of you. The only event that I could get to was the Picard premiere in London’s Leicester Square. For what was the European premiere, the stars of the show were all there, along with actors like Sir Ian McKellen and Jason Isaacs, both not in this show but there to support Sir Patrick Stewart who is in his role as Captain Jean Luc Picard. I was on the red carpet and although I didn’t get any time with Sir Patrick or Sir Ian, I could have chatted with Jason, but chose instead to speak to Jeri Ryan. You will remember that Jeri starred as Seven of Nine in the Star Trek:Voyager nearly 20 years ago. I asked her if there was any hesitation about taking this role, so long after she originally played her, for which she said that the role was offered to her in a

different way, she explains: “This came to me in a little different way from the rest of the cast. I think I heard about it about two years ago. A dear friend of mine, pitched me the idea of how she's changed and what she might be like now. And it sounded honestly really intriguing, but I didn't think anything was going to come with it. Cut to a year later at the Creative Arts Emmys, and I was lined up backstage to go on with Alex Kurtzman (one of the new shows writers), and he turned around and said, “Oh, I was talking a lot about Seven in the writer's room.” And I released that this is actually happening?” For my review of the first episode, please see my reviews page.

Interviews

This month, and going forward, I will be featuring at least one Cardiff resident or native in my interviews section; it’s Ketnipz creator Harry Hambley, still only 20 years young but with around 1.5 million followers on Instagram alone, and a thriving transatlantic business. He still lives in Cardiff, and I just had to speak with him! The winner of the BAFTA Cymru Best Actor Award 2019 was Celyn Jones, so that’s who I have interviewed and it was for his new film Mr Jones. The hit game show The Wall is returning to Cardiff for the audition day at the end of February, and I asked the producer Stephen Loveluck about how anyone that is thinking of applying can stand out. Lastly, I chatted with Steve Speirs, whose show The Tuckers has been on BBC Wales, and still can be found on iPlayer. As you can see, all are Welsh or are offering something to Cardiff. I say that’s a good start to my idea!

Harry Hambley is the creator of Ketnipz who is a sexless bean character. Harry is only 20 years old and chose not to go to University, he instead created a brand recognised all over the world. I got to chat with this very inspiring and very talented artist genius! Carl Marsh Would that be different characters, maybe?

Harry Hambley Yeah, yeah, I think it's hard with the main character, the bean, because by nature the character is super basic, and it's sort of a blank slate for someone who's new to my content to really sort of follow, but it's hard when you introduce a new character because you never know if it's going to stick or not. And, and as a lot of work to put into it. I'd like to focus more on certain subjects rather than individual characters. So, you know, I might start feeling a certain way about doing content around like, parties or social situations.

Carl Marsh Has living and growing up in Cardiff given you any inspiration for your Ketnipz character and brand?

Harry Hambley I don't know if there was anything because my work is not really that focused on Cardiff as a subject matter or Wales in general. I think there's a lot of maybe the aesthetic is sort of a bit more cold and damp [laughs]. I think when you're in Cardiff, you do feel that sense of that there's like a certain warmth, which you don't get in other places, especially in the United States. There is a feeling of belonging and community and if any cultural things that come from Cardiff, if they retain that side of things, they get really held up by the community. So especially with music and things like that, and I've always felt supported by people like yourself who are interested in other people doing something creative.

Carl Marsh What's the future hold for the Ketnipz; do you want to try different projects?

Harry Hambley Yes, I'd like to get into different areas of the medium as I feel if I kept doing the comics, I'd be playing it a bit safe and I want to venture into different things like maybe video games and maybe longer form animation. Carl Marsh Would that be completely different from Ketnipz?

Harry Hambley No, as it would still be in the same world. It's a strange process, especially on social media, you've just got to sort of throw up a bunch of ideas and see what sticks.

Carl Marsh What's an average day like for you because most 20-year-olds your age wouldn't be running a business, and especially not one that is mainly based in the USA! What do you do to escape in your downtime?

Harry Hambley I like watching movies and seeing mates, but I'm not a gamer, a little bit, but like only with Tetris. Actually, my main thing is, my work is quite fun for me. So I'm like, you know, I might as well just do more work and that's the thing too, is that a lot of the time it doesn't feel like work if it's just a fun thing. So you know, there are boring sides of it but I don't really get that much time to do proper gaming or anything like that, but it's fine. I used to be really into Xbox yet when I look back at all those years, even if you spend like two hours a day (playing), it all adds up and people don't think about it. Imagine if you took that time and did what you really wanted to do. Obviously it's hard to know what you want to do and yes, of course, I was lucky enough to know. I put that (time) into Instagram or whatever. And that's what I think has made the difference (for me). You know it's hard to think about working on a project over a few years, but that's the main difference.

Celyn Jones has an acting role in Mr Jones, which is due out in the cinema this month where he plays the editor of the Western Mail. Starring James Norton, this is the true story of Gareth Jones who as a journalist, reported the Ukrainian Famine of the 1920s.

Carl Marsh Before I ask you about Mr Jones I needed to congratulate you on your BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Actor last year, as I missed speaking to you at the event!

Celyn Jones That means a lot to me. It felt like the fruits of 20 years that night. It certainly felt like that, and to be sort of recognised by your peers, you know when you do good work and you do go for it, it can get noticed, you know, so I didn't expect it at all, especially the category I was in. I thought the nomination was prize enough, I genuinely did. So, when Ruth Jones called out my name, it was like, you know, I couldn’t imagine a better way. So it was great. It's on the sideboard. Everybody touches it as they go past [laughs].

Carl Marsh Mr Jones, I've seen the film and I thought it was outstanding. I know you've got a role in the film with you playing The Western Mail’s editor, albeit from the 1920s; it must be nice playing another real-life character after your recent portrayal of Dylan Thomas?

Celyn Jones The Western Mail! Do you know what, a couple of months ago, the Western Mail did a profile on me which was lovely, and it was the one acting job that I didn't talk about! And at the end of it, I was thinking to myself, ‘I played the Western Mail editor in a movie!’ [laughs]. But it's because there is so much space and time between films. Sometimes they come out quickly. Sometimes they take a couple of years. The year I played that role in Mr Jones, it was straight after I did Manhunt. And then after Mr Jones, we made Six Minutes to Midnight, which releases this spring. And, you know, Miss Jones releases in a couple of weeks and Manhunt was on telly last year.

Carl Marsh Playing a serial killer, and then portray a person who would decide what would go in a newspaper is a bit of a jump, but I guess that’s the crazy world of acting and proof that you don’t know whom you will be working with next, or where in the world?

Celyn Jones It is quite interesting, that kind of thing. With Manhunt, and because it's on televisions and in people's living rooms, and it’s a UK story. And that almost was like the most popular thing I have done, you know. So it's been a very sort of eclectic, exciting experience really to bring me to Mr Jones, which I know is a long, long meandering tale, but that is what sort of has to happen to be able to meet with someone like Agnieszka Holland. She is this kind of world-famous Polish auteur genius and for her to say, “I want to work with this guy,” and then you want to go and be part of what is an untold story. It’s a bonus the fact that it's a Welsh story but told on an international global canvas as we filmed all (of my scenes) interiors in Poland and the exteriors in Scotland. So the inside of the newspaper office was in Poland. All supporting artists were Polish and the whole crew. Agnieszka let me have a lot of fun where I went about renaming all the Polish supporting artists, you know all the extras. So I'd be like “Good morning Bryn, good morning Sian” [laugh]. She is one of the best directors I've ever worked with.

Stephen Loveluck

The Wall, which is the smash-hit game show hosted by Danny Dyer, will be returning for a second series and there will be auditions held in Cardiff on the 29th February. I chatted to the series producer, Steven Loveluck, about how applicants can possibly be successful in being picked once they have completed the application via www.thewalluk.com

Stephen Loveluck We found that with the first series, people weren't quite sure what it was about. With some shows and when you hear things like quizzes and things that people don't quite know what to expect, they sort of think it's maybe not for them. I think from watching (the first series) people have now got a good understanding of the show. They have come to realise that actually, it's something that anyone could have a go at and you haven't got to be a massive quizzer. It helps to have a bit of general knowledge but you haven't got to be an absolute brain-box. Anyone can have a go and you know what, you could win a lot of money and spend time with Danny Dyer.

Carl Marsh He's like a working mans Prince, isn't he? You know, he's just, he is just unique that guy is?

Stephen Loveluck He is really refreshing as he doesn't have any 'airs or graces', all he cares about is the people on the show. Danny doesn't know the questions so he very much plays the game with them and is on their side and that’s not a bad thing. The thing that he finds hard is when they sometimes lose, he takes it quite personally, bless him.

Carl Marsh I know you’ve got the auditions that are going to be in Cardiff on the 29th of February. So, if anybody is anxious about applying for the show, what advice can you give them?

Stephen Loveluck The key thing really is to not panic. On series one we had a few people who when they were in isolation, they just didn't actually read the question. We just want people to audition and then enjoy it and have a good time. If they relax, they will do just fine. The audition days are really fun as they come along and play versions of the game against a simulator they'll be playing, and it's such a nice day and they really do play the game. It's quite fun watching people get very excited about a computerised wall with the balls falling down.

Carl Marsh How could somebody stand out for the selection process to actually make the actual shows?

Stephen Loveluck They don't have to be the most outgoing characters in the world. They just have to be like people that you'd like to have a chat with. Or just people that you (the viewer) would think that it would be nice if they won some money. They don't really have to be crazy characters. We just want normal people who are just nice. There's no pre-requisite checklist that we have got. They haven't got to be the smartest in the world. You want people (that are watching) to think that, ‘I like those people’, or think that they would be quite good with Danny. Before we had all sorts of different people with Danny, and you know, he was great with all of them. We just want nice normal people that people (the viewers) wouldn't normally see on game shows.

Carl Marsh Your character in The Tuckers, is it based on anybody that you know or have met on your travels?

Steve Speirs The whole family are based on people I know and comes from a place of love. A lot of them are based on my own family in fact. I had a Grampa Murphy who was always in the outside toilet. I never once saw him in the house. I had a Nanna Peg.. very much a matriarch like our Peg. And Glyn$well he’s an amalgamation of two people. And as he’s a bit of an anti-hero, I don’t think I’ll say who just now!

Carl Marsh Would you describe The Tuckers as a light comedy type show?

Steve Speirs I'd like to think it’s got a bittersweet edge. A lot of people on social media (where the love for the show has been quite overwhelming) comment that the series has a poignant streak to it. You don’t have to scratch very hard to see the family actually has a big beating heart.

Carl Marsh I know you wrote the series, so is what we are seeing in series one all that you had written or did you have to make it more 'user-friendly' by the producers at the BBC?

Steve Speirs I did a pilot for BBC Wales last year. It was a late-night slot and was a lot edgier, grittier perhaps. There was a lot of language (no more than Twin Town, but certainly not less). One thing the BBC wanted to bring out more was the love the family have for each other and I think we’ve achieved that. Carl Marsh Can I ask what was the catalyst that made you write this series?

Steve Speirs These peoples’ voices have been around me since childhood. I wanted to write about a family that is real and (that) have a genuine voice. There are families like the Tuckers in every working-class valley... indeed every working-class area in the UK. I love them and am not ashamed of them. I wanted them to have a voice. They are fiercely proud. A lot of the public who have taken to them not only on BBC Wales but iPlayer in their hundreds of thousands, comment on the importance of family and community in the series.

Carl Marsh In the series, which episode nails it for you?

Steve Speirs Episode six, indeed! My episode six is a love letter to the Valleys.

Carl Marsh Which scene that you were/were not in required the most retakes for laughter reasons?

Steve Speirs It was very hard to keep a straight face with the brilliant Robert Pugh. The scenes at the toilet door were hard enough, but once he was ill in Glyn’s bed (spoiler alert) and I was holding a bottle for him to pee in$ well... it was either him going, me going, the crew going, or all of us going. It was a beautifully hard day in the best way possible.

Carl Marsh Any regrets about the finished product (series one)?

Steve Speirs Only one. It took me ten months to complete$six months to write, two months to film and two months to edit$ and most people binge-watched it in THREE HOURS! Ha! I love them for it though. I guess that's the viewing habits nowadays$and all those people are now crying out on social media for a second series. So that can’t be a bad thing and I’m extremely grateful to them.

Entertainment Reviews

TV Show

Picard - Amazon Prime

Set roughly 20 years after Captain Jean Luc Picard has retired, we find him ‘enjoying’ his retirement in rural France. All I have seen is episode one, as this is released weekly on Amazon Prime. Without just going to say who the rest of the cast is, I can say that you will see all of the original cast, mostly in minor roles. What I took from the first episode at the premiere in London was that a lot of money has been pumped into this show. The effects are impressive, I would say better than anything I have seen on a TV show before. The only gripe I have so far is that the actress that plays Dahj / Soji (two parts yes!) could have at least had real tears when she was meant to be very upset. Isn't this one of the first things you are taught at acting class? That aside, let’s hope the rest of the show doesn’t end in real tears.

(Four Stars - so far)

Fat Freddy’s Drop - Special Edition Part 1

New Zealand dub/jazz/reggae group Fat Freddy’s Drop are coming to Cardiff this year and I had a chat with Toby Laing who was in Wellington, I will feature that interview nearer the concert. This new album is WOW! Definitely more upbeat than I expected as I am new to this groups music. Quite brilliant and I guess you could say a little like UB40 but with more instruments. This album is a joy to listen to, easy listening and if anything, it has made me want to count down the days to when I get to see them perform live in Cardiff’s Motorpoint in the next few months!

(FIVE Stars)

TV Show

Handstand - BBC iPlayer

I got to see a new one-off drama on BBC Wales called Handstand which is written and directed by Peter Watkins-Hughes. The main character is Darren Evans, who starred in My Mad Fat Diary and Requiem, and his love interest is Mabli Jên Eustace who featured in Hinterland. It’s a teenage love story with a dark twist set in the south Wales valley town of Brynmawr and shot in and around the town’s cinema – the oldest in Wales. When a new family moves in next door, teenager Luke (Darren Evans) falls for their daughter Sarah (Mabli Jên Eustace) and as the two meet in the local cinema love starts to blossom. But Sarah is hiding a dark secret and Luke is about to encounter some uncomfortable truths about her parents. It’s essentially a tale of first love and the shocking stories that lurk behind some closed doors. I really like to see home-based productions, so this is a must-watch!