Pobol y Cwm: 50 years of facts

As the soap celebrates fifty years some facts from the S4C archives on the show…

The first episode was broadcast at 7.10pm on Wednesday 16 October 1974.

The earliest episode of Pobol y Cwm that is in the BBC Cymru archive is Christmas Eve 1974.

All the scripts from the first series are in the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth.

Trefelin was the original name discussed for the series.

The idea came from John Hefin, the BBC’s Head of Drama at the time, and playwright Gwenlyn Parry.

Pobol y Cwm‘s first words were “Bore da Magi Evans” (“Good morning Magi Evans”), from Harri Parri (Charles Williams) to Magi Post (Harriet Lewis).

From the minutes of meetings in November 1973, some of the early ideas for Pobol y Cwm were:

Locations such as a school, pub, shop/post office, ‘canolfan glonc’ (social space). There was supposed to be a care home for the elderly-here are descriptions of the characters: Reverend Taliesin Thomas– “An old, retired Methodist; a sad man; in his shell, not doing much of anything but an avid reader. The man in the corner”. Bella’s character then, very simply “the bitch”! In another list by John Hefin, he noted that she always creates trouble.

Minutes from early planning meetings indicate that the village in which Pobol y Cwm is located should be similar to Bancffosfelenor Llanfairpwll. Around 1,000 inhabitants but belongs to a more populated area. The specific location was east Carmarthenshire.

Pobol y Cwm was originally filmed at Broadway Studios, before moving to Broadcasting House in Llandaff. Since November 2011, the show has been located at BBC Roath Lock Studios in Cardiff Bay.

Harold Wilson was the Prime Minister when the first episode was broadcast, and Annie’s Song by John Denver was number one in the charts.

Endaf Emlyn is the composer of Pobol y Cwm‘s iconic music.

In the 1970s, the series was shown on BBC 1 in England during lunchtime without subtitles. To this day, people remember watching even if they didn’t understand the language. For a period during the early 1990s, the soap was broadcast on BBC Two with on-screen English subtitles.

For a period in 1992, the series was broadcast on the Nederland 3 channel in the Netherlands under the title De vallei (The Valley).

The Sportsman’s Rest in Peterston-super-Ely was the original location of the Deri Arms.15.

Pobol y Cwm now broadcasts every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights but in 1988 the series was on five nights; following in the footsteps of Sixpenny Corner (1955, ITV/Rediffusion) the first daily serial in the UK, all be it 15 minutes long, and then in 1964 Crossroads (ITV/ATV Midlands) burst onto screens as the first full-length UK daily soap. However, the S4C offering was decades ahead of the main BBC and ITV primetime soaps who took many more years to go five nights.

20 years ago (after 30 years of existence), Pobol y Cwm won the Royal Television Society hall of fame award for its contribution to television.

In May 2024, the programme was recognised at the RTS Cymru Wales Awards with a Lifetime Achievement award. This was together with Lisabeth Miles, who plays Megan Harries and appeared  in the first episode in 1974, and long-serving director/producer Robin Davies-Rollinson.

Pobol y Cwm was 11 years old when EastEnders was broadcast for the first time.

21.173,480 is the total number of episodes, to date, in the history of Pobol y Cwm.

Although the series is broadcast throughout the year, the crew film 150 episodes in a period of 27 weeks.

In 2009 the series won a Mind mental health award for Nesta’s post-natal depression story. The series beat EastEnders in this category.

In 1997, the first Welsh series produced lesbian kiss was broadcast on Welsh television, when Lisa Morgan (Beth Roberts) and Fiona Metcalfe (Lydia Jones) began their relationship. This was also Pobol y Cwm’s first gay kiss.

In 2009, Pobol y Cwm was nominated for a Stonewall Award for its positive portrayal of gay characters–Iolo and Gwyneth.

The series has filmed in various locations throughout the years including further afield to Calais, Ireland and even Tenerife.

Approximately 200 costumes are used each week, with the character of Kelly having the largest collection in the S4C costume department.

The character Rhys has been portrayed by four different people over the years – Jack Quickplays the current ‘Rhys’.

The same actor has played two roles in the series Buddug Williams, who currently plays Anti Marian, also played Mrs Harries, mother to Reg and Sabrina, back in 1974.

Today, Pobol y Cwm has twenty writers while some of the non-speaking characters have been in the series for decades–Gwynfor Roberts has been a walk-on actor for over 30 years.

And finally the goods sold in the shop and café are all real. In the Deri Arms the beer and wine which is served is weak shandy and grape juice.