Pantheon Of Heroes - Series 2!

Series 2 of Elis James' Pantheon of Heroes has started going out on BBC Radio Wales on Fridays at 6.30pm.

It's a comedy show about Welsh history written by Elis, Ben Partridge and myself, starring Elis, Ben and Nadia Kamil.

If you click on that first link at the time of posting, then you'll find the episode The Welsh Abroad. At 6.30pm tomorrow the episode about Culture will be added to the pile. There are six of them in total, but keep an eye out for Episode 3 - All about Myths, and featuring a sterling contribution from musician Rhodri Viney. That one goes out on 21st December - so something to enjoy in the festive traffic.

And after you've listened to Pantheon of Heroes, you can listen to my Sunday Morning Show without even leaving the BBC Radio Wales website.

Quality Items!

Last week, Benjamin Partridge and I stood-in for Rhod Gilbert on BBC Radio Wales.

The whole show is currently available to listen to on the station's website, and there is also a Best Bits podcast available to download too.

If you heard the show, and in particular the second hour, then you have probably been trying to imagine all of the incredible items which Ben and I purchased from charity shops during the week, and then attempted to sell online (with varying degrees of success).

Well, you'll be thrilled to know you can rest those imagination-muscles for a bit, as I thought I would upload the photos of the objects here.

These are the actual ones we put on the auction site too... I keep saying "auction site". I'm not on-air any more. I can say "eBay", if I want. eBay. We put them on eBay.

     

If none of this makes any sense, then for the full context, do have a listen back to last Saturday's Rhod Gilbert Show. That'll be online until Saturday 22nd September, although the Best Bits Podcast should be up there for a good deal longer.

I actually stood in for Rhod for three weeks in total, and the podcasts for all the shows are still available to download:

Podcast from 15th September (With Benjamin Partridge)

Podcast from 8th September (With Benjamin Partridge)

Podcast from 1st September (With Eggsy from GLC)

And while you're on the BBC Radio Wales website, do check another show I've been working on recently - The fourth series of Chris Corcoran's school-based sitcom Those That Can't.

Those That Can't

On Friday, the fourth series of Chris Corcoran's sitcom Those That Can't started on BBC Radio Wales, and this time round I've actually been involved in the writing of it.

The whole thing has been excellently produced by Benjamin Partridge and the new episodes will be broadcast on BBC Radio Wales on Fridays at 7pm, repeated on Saturdays at 6.30pm. 

As always, you can listen to them during the week on the Radio Wales website. 

And since you're going to the BBC Radio Wales website, you may as well help boost the figures on these clips while you're there.

Standing in: Rhod Gilbert & The Now Show

On Saturday I stood in for Rhod Gilbert on BBC Radio Wales for what proved to be an action packed two hours. There were sketches about moon landings, patios, Benjamin Partridge running around an empty building and a crying bride.

The whole show is available to listen to on iPlayer, or you can download the best 28 minutes as a podcast.

The week before that, I stood in for Jon Holmes on The Now Show. Although that particular podcast is no longer available, at the time of writing the show is still on BBC iPlayer for a few more days thanks to repeats on BBC Radio 4extra extending its online-life by almost a whole extra week.

Anyway, I'm back to being myself now.

Clips, links and audio

I thought I'd pop up some links to clips, or indeed whole episodes of shows, I have worked on recently (and some I worked on over four years ago).

BBC Radio Wales Sunday Show

As well as a link to the most recent show, there are now "clips" at the bottom of the BBC Radio Wales show page where some "Best Bits" will end up. 

BBC Radio Wales - Gareth Gwynn Page

Social Club FM

I co-wrote this sitcom with Elis James and Chris Corcoran, based on the "Chis Corcoran's Committee Meeting" live shows. Details on the series are here and, despite finishing in March, someone has kindly popped all five episodes up online: 

Social Club FM - Episodes 1 - 5

Elis James' Pantheon of Heroes

The Welsh History series, written by Elis James, Benjamin Partridge and I and starring Elis, Ben and Nadia Kamil came off iPlayer a while ago. However, a clip of the show about Welsh Rugby (taken from the episode "Heroic Failures" can be found here…

Pantheon of Heroes - The diaries of Jonny Wilkinson and Andy Powell

There was also a great selection of "Online Extras" produced for the series, which are still available at the bottom of the show's webpage. Stand-ups Henry Widdicombe, Lloyd Langford, Wes Paker, Mike Bubbins and Clint Edwards talk about a different hero they think should be added to the Pantheon of Heroes.

Pantheon of Heroes - Online Extras

There's also a bit by me about Perce Blackborow

Pantheon of Heroes - Online Extras - Gareth Gwynn on Perce Blackborow

There will be a second series of the show later in the year.

Roop and Tom

And finally, to mark the release of the film "Battleship", Roop and Tom have uploaded a trailer for the film which we made for XFM South Wales back in 2008, when the film was first announced. 

Roop and Tom's Battleship Trailer

They've uploaded a few more bits from their time at GWR Bath, Fox FM and XFM South Wales. Have a look at Roop and Tom on Soundcloud.

January 2012 Update

It's been a while since I've updated this website, but it looks like it's going to be a busy start to 2012, so it made sense to put some links to the shows I'll be working on over the next few months.

Pantheon Of Heroes

This Friday (and indeed, the five Fridays that follow it) at 7pm on BBC Radio Wales, you'll be able to hear "Elis James' Pantheon of Heroes" - A brand new series starring Elis, Benjamin Partridge and Nadia Kamil and written by Elis, Ben and I. As well as the episodes appearing on iPlayer, there are also going to be some online extras too, where you'll be able to see me talking about Welsh adventurer Perce Blackborow.

Elis James' Pantheon of Heroes on the BBC Radio Wales Website

Social Club FM

Last summer, I produced a pilot for BBC Radio Wales written by and starring Chris Corcoran and Elis James called "Social Club FM". I'm pleased to say it's got a full series, and this time round, I'll actually be helping out with the writing of the episodes. The series starts on the 24th February with a repeat of the pilot, and there will be four more episodes after that. If you think the writing tails off and the production quality improves, I can only apologise.

Social Club FM on the BBC Radio Wales Website

Newsjack

I'll be script editing two episodes of the sixth series of Newsjack for BBC Radio 4 Extra. The series starts on 23rd February. As always, you can submit material to newsjack@bbc.co.uk but please check out the writer's guide first.

On the subject of writing opportunities, I've been doing some bits and bobs for the BBC College of Production. There’s an interview with me as part of the "I didn't get where I am today" series and I also took part in the podcast on writing Comedy and Drama. Later in the month there will also be another podcast on sketch writing featuring John-Luke Roberts.

Early Morning Sunday Show

I'm still presenting my Sunday morning show on BBC Radio Wales, which you can listen to on the BBC Radio Wales website.

In fact, this Sunday, being the Sunday closest to "Blue Monday", we’ll be doing our best to counteract the influence of the so-called "most depressing day of the year" by playing nothing but summer records. So if you've got any ideas, drop me an email to gareth@bbc.co.uk or get in touch with me on twitter.

May/June 2011 Update

A couple of iPlayer links to shows I've been working on recently.

Reception is a pilot sketch show for BBC Radio 2 which I have been script editing. This impressions show went out on 28 May, and will be on iPlayer for a week.

"What's The Story?" - BBC Radio Wales' topical panel game hosted by Justin Waite, is back for its fourth series and once again, I'll be producing the show. It is recorded in the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama on Thursday nights and goes out on Friday at 7pm (repeated at 4.30pm on Sundays). Tickets for the recordings are available from tickets@tidyproductions.co.uk.

And this link should take you to the latest edition of my BBC Radio Wales Sunday morning show.

The Rule Book

(If you listen regularly to my BBC Radio Wales morning show, you can probably skip the first few paragraphs of this. The opening is just filling people in on all the fun they've been missing out on!)

So I don’t know what I did, I don’t know who I worried or offended, but earlier this year a copy of the BBC Rule Book arrived on my desk.

It's a big green book comprising 368 pages of editorial guidelines and, unsurprisingly, when given a book of rules, the first thing that flashes through your mind is, "I wonder how many I can break"?

So that’s what I've been doing at 5.45am every Sunday this year as part of my BBC Radio Wales show (because if you break a rule before 6am it just doesn't seem as serious).

Lines crossed and conventions smashed so far include paying a contributor to talk about a criminal offence (I gave £10 to someone willing to admit they'd had a speeding ticket), endangering members of BBC Staff (I left a CD on a high shelf), the use of strobe lighting (the book never specifies it's a TV only rule) and several regulations surrounding covert recordings - In fact, I hit 5 in one fell swoop by not just playing a clip of a friend talking about a small piece of plastic, but then repeating it without filling in the appropriate form.

However, next week, I'm going to need some help as the rule I want to break is 19.4.1:

"Our commitment to our audiences is to ensure that complaints and enquiries are dealt with quickly, courteously and with respect".

So it’s simple enough - next week, I'm going respond to all enquiries (or complaints, of course) without courtesy or respect. But to do this properly, I'm going to need something to respond to.

If you'd like to send me something, there are two ways... The first (and probably best) is to my twitter account: @garethgwynn.

Alternatively, you can send me an email to gareth@bbc.co.uk (these get automatically copied to my boss too, by the way, so it's going to be especially exciting once it all gets going. I haven't actually warned him about this).

Then, all going to plan, you can hear me respond to these in a suitably petulant and surly manner live on BBC Radio Wales on Sunday at 5.45am. Or on iPlayer. Don't worry, I'm not operating under any illusion about this.

Updated Links

An iPlayer link to the latest edition of my Sunday morning show is now available from the show's webpage on the BBC Radio Wales website.

Alternatively, you can listen to it live on BBC Radio Wales from 5 - 6.30am on Sunday mornings. I imagine the iPlayer link will be more palatable for most.

I'll be doing a few extra shows over Christmas too. If that page doesn't link to them automatically, I'll put something up closer to the time.

In other news, I will be producing the third series of BBC Radio Wales' topical panel game, What's The Story throughout January and February. Recordings will be every Friday night at the Reardon Smith Theatre, starting at 7.15pm from January 7th to February 18th. Tickets will be free, and I'll pop a link up in the new year explaining how to get hold of them.

BBC Radio Wales - Sunday Morning Early Breakfast (5 - 6.30am)

For the last couple of weeks, I've been getting into work for 5am on Sunday mornings to present the Early Breakfast show on BBC Radio Wales. Yes, that's right. 5am. Early, isn't it?

You'll no doubt be pleased to know you don’t have to get up that early every week to find out exactly what it is I'm up to. If I've got my head around the way the BBC Radio Wales website works, the following link will take you to the webpage for the show, where you'll find the most recent BBC iPlayer link.

BBC Radio Wales Early Breakfast Show Page

You can text me during the show on 8 10 12. Alternatively, you can get in touch with me at any time during the week via twitter (@garethgwynn).

Antiquity Blog Post

Before the broadcast of Antiquity, John-Luke Roberts and I wrote the following piece for the BBC Comedy Blog. Unfortunately, it never made it online (Presumably because, when we sent it, every person involved with the BBC Comedy website, or indeed BBC Comedy in general, was at the Edinburgh Festival, so it just sat in someone's inbox until it was far too late to do anything about it).

Anyway, I thought it made sense to pop it up here so it wasn't lost forever. Not that anyone would miss it if it was. It was meant to be accompanied by 2 minutes from the show itself - which I presume would do more to convince people to listen than anything we could say in 300 words.

How we came up with the title "Antiquity"
(By Gareth Gwynn and John-Luke Roberts)

We spent almost as long coming up with the title to this show as we did writing it. And the sitcom took a perfectly respectable length of time to write.

"Antiquity" was the name of the word file Gareth saved it as when he first sent it to the show’s producer, Victoria Lloyd and, months later, that ended up the name of the show. Knowing the Welsh people’s famous unpredictabily, it could just have just easily been called "Mr. Potty Goes To The Shops".

We decided something we thought of that quickly couldn’t possibly be right and set about coming up with a better title for a sitcom set in an antique shop. Personal favourites are "Queen Anne And The Chippendales" (vetoed on the grounds that "it sounds like a different show") and "Antiquesdisestablishmentarianism!" (wouldn’t fit in the Radio Times). For about 48 hours, we were both convinced "Antique Shop!" (pronounced "Antique Shop Exclamation Mark") was the right one.

The BBC Ticket Unit issued tickets for something called "Cavendish’s Curiosities" and we suspect our cast including Tim McInnerny, Andrew Sachs, Nadia Kamil and Will Andrews all turned up to appear in differently named shows.

We were convinced we'd think of something better right up until there were 350 people in the BBC Radio Theatre staring at our cast and David Reed, our announcer, needed to say something at the start of the show to let people know it had started. And with the same quick thinking with which we named the word document, we once again opted for "Antiquity".

(We’ve since been told the best way to find the show on the iPlayer will be to search for "Happy Tuesdays", the strand our pilot appears in. So maybe thinking of a name didn’t matter so much after all).

Antiquity on BBC iPlayer

Antiquity, the sitcom written by John-Luke Roberts and I, script edited by Arthur Mathews and starring Tim McInnerny, Andrew Sachs, Nadia Kamil and William Andrews was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 last night, and will now be available on iPlayer for a week.

Antiquity on BBC iPlayer

Antiquity, Papa's Got A Brand New Wigbag and Something Else

Antiquity

This August, "Antiquity", a sitcom written by John-Luke Roberts and I (and script edited by Father Ted's Arthur Mathews) will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

The official press release can be found here, but that was written before we confirmed the whole cast - So tune in to BBC Radio 4 on the 17th August at 11pm to hear Tim McInnerny, Nadia Kamil, Will Andrews and Andrew Sachs. It'll also be on the BBC iPlayer for a week after broadcast.

Edinburgh

Together with Carrie Quinlan and Robert Cawsey, I'm heading up to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with the sketch show Papa's Got A Brand New Wigbag. We're appearing at The Canons' Gait at 4.55pm almost every day as part of PBH's Free Fringe. The flyer (front and back) is below.

I'll also be assisting John-Luke Roberts with his one-man show John-Luke Roberts Distracts You From A Murder, which is in the Pleasance Joker Dome at 8pm.

Something Else

And finally, I was on BBC Radio Wales last Sunday on "Something Else". It'll be on the BBC iPlayer until Sunday 8th.