January 2020 - Welcome Strangers

Welcome Strangers is a brand new sketch show on BBC Radio Wales starring Sarah Breese, Sian Harries, Kath Hughes, Mali Ann Rees, Beth Granville and Ruth Madoc as the narrator. 

I wrote some sketches and also worked as script editor on the show, three episodes of which are currently online - and will soon be joined by a fourth.

January 2020 - O'r Diwedd 2019

O'r Diwedd 2019: It may be January 2020, but if you're already feeling nostalgic about 2019 then the latest edition of O'r Diwedd is currently available (with English subtitles, if required) on BBC iPlayer. 

Presented by Sian Harries and Tudur Owen, it's our annual sketch show looking back at the year- and I'm even in this one, very briefly, as a Welsh learner. Which is apt.

Tourist Trap: There's also still to time to catch-up on Tourist Trap Series 2 - Just like Christmas decorations, the semi-improvised sitcom written by Sian, Tudur and I will be taken down on Sunday evening - so if you haven't seen it yet, now's your chance. 

Funny Nation: Also available on iPlayer is this documentary about the history of Welsh comedy presented by Elis James and directed by Iwan England. The three episodes cover stereotypes, live comedy and TV and Radio. I pop up here and there talking about shows that finished long before I was born - And, rest assured, should you ever need three hours of me banging on-and-on about Harry Secombe, Iwan really does have those out-takes safely tucked away somewhere. 

And if you are an Audible subscriber, you can still get hold of The Goodies - The Big Ben Theory Written by John-Luke Roberts and me with Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie and based on a plot by Barnaby Eaton-Jones, it's a new, hour-long audio edition of the show available to download now.

October 2019 - Tourist Trap Series 2

 
Tourist Trap is back! The semi-improvised sitcom/sketch-show* returns on Monday 28th October at 10.35pm on BBC One Wales and runs for six weeks - But all six episodes will be available on BBC iPlayer website afterwards.

And if you're the sort of person who enjoys a peek-behind-the-curtain, Sian Harries, Tudur Owen and I gave an interview to the British Comedy Guide about how we write the show which raises existential questions about what even is a script. You can find it here.

I have also been working behind the scenes on the first two editions of this series of The Now Show as well as helping out on Gary Slaymaker and Debra Humphries' show The Joy Of Text - all of which are now available on BBC Sounds.

*I co-write it and I'm not quite sure which it is.

October 2019 - The Goodies in The Big Ben Theory

If you head over to Audible now you can find a brand new audio episode of The Goodies. The Goodies - The Big Ben Theory is written by John-Luke Roberts and me - with Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie and based on a plot by Barnaby Eaton-Jones.

In the show The Goodies return to run the country in a plotline which seems even more relevant now than when we first sat down to write it. They're joined by Jon Culshaw, Kate Harbour, Philip Pope, Barnaby Eaton-Jones and Joanna Lumley. It's produced by Barnaby Eaton-Jones and directed by Dirk Maggs

If you head to the show page now you can hear a small audio-sample from around the opening of the show - and you can hear the whole thing for free if you sign-up for Audible's 30-day trial which, by my maths, should let you listen to it 720 times.

I also recently appeared on James King's podcast Cinema Stories in which guests chat about their three favourite cinemas - and as someone who once worked in a cinema (The Coliseum in Brecon) I was more than happy to provide a peek behind the heavy, red curtain.

Before long I found myself admitting to a professional film critic that I have seen the first Pirates Of The Caribbean film over 26 times as well as covering The Piglet Movie and a Rugrats film that was scratch-n-sniff. 

The whole show is currently available on Acast, Spotify and Apple... And once you've listened to the show, it might be worth you checking out this BBC Radio 4 documentary by Michael Sheen in which he provides an altogether more positive spin on the Port Talbot Plaza than the one I was able to provide.

July 2019 - Y Dynion Diarth

Back in 2016 Sian Harries, Ben Partridge and I wrote a pilot for S4C which Zipline Creative packed with legends and shot on a shoestring. Y Dynion Diarth didn't get picked-up, but we've popped it online should anyone be interested - After all, once you've gone to the bother of organizing a wedding in a service station, you want to show that off.

It stars Siw Hughes, Sian Harries, Dafydd Hwyel, Sara Gregory, Rhodri Evan, Carys Eleri and Gareth J Bale - with Ben and myself popping up in there too. It's in Welsh, with English subtitles available.



And July also saw the final episodes of Jolyon Rubinstein's topical discussion podcast We Need To Talk About... appear on Spotify. 

I've worked on the show since it began, back in September 2017, and we've played host to some incredible guests and talked about Brexit a lot. The full back catalogue - including a Best Bits compilation of the last 6 months, is available on Spotify now.

May 2019 - Live At Eleven

On the 23rd May, I took part in Live At Eleven, a brand new topical comedy show for BBC Radio 4. 

With no election coverage on the night of EU polling day here in the UK, I built one myself, filling-in the gap by playing clips of old elections from the BBC archive. My bit, and the rest of the show, is currently available on BBC Sounds (as, despite the show's name, it is actually available to listen to online for about a month).

Hosted by Toby Foster and Lou Conran, the show was produced by Ed Morrish and features Raul Kohli, Jennifer Williams, me and a real-life clown.

I also recently took part in Danielle Ward's podcast Any Stupid Questions. Danielle herself wasn't actually there, so Carrie Quinlan stood-in as host as Olivia Lee and I asked very stupid questions to experts Rick Muir (of the Police Foundation) about the Police and Claer Barrett (of the Financial Times) about Banks. Both shows, and the rest of the Any Stupid Questions back catalogue are available to download now.

And talking of podcasts, I am also a regular writer on We Need To Talk About…, Spotify’s topical comedy podcast, presented by Jolyon Rubinstein. There’s a new episode out every Friday morning and the whole back-catalogue of the show (including special one-to-one interviews and one-off documentaries) is available online now.

March 2019 - Give Wales A Try

The Tourist Trap Rugby Special will be broadcast on Friday 8th March at 10.35pm on BBC One Wales, and will then be available on BBC iPlayer shortly afterwards.

February 2019 – So You Think You Know About Europe? (Or Rugby?) (Or Cars?)

On BBC Sounds now, you can hear my most recent appearance on BBC Radio 4’s The Now Show. My set is all about how the UK has viewed the EU or, given the age of some of the clips I was fished out, the EEC.

The whole show is on BBC Sounds now. I start at 8 minutes 30 seconds, but listen to the whole show to hear Jake Yapp and Suzi Ruffell both on top form.

Links to my previous appearances on The Now Show are available on the Watch/Listen section of my website, and the Radio Times listing for the 1979 quiz show “So You Think You Know About Europe?” (which, once you’ve heard my set, you’ll definitely want to check out) is available on the BBC Genome website.

Also available on the BBC website is Gareth Gwynn’s Alternative Archive (which I’ve written about elsewhere on the blog) and also series 26 of Top Gear, on which I did a little bit of work behind the scenes... Not the exotic, far-flung bits - The cold, Dunsfold, aircraft-hanger bits - But nevertheless, it was a lot of fun.

A considerably warmer gig is We Need To Talk About…, Spotify’s topical comedy podcast, presented by Jolyon Rubinstein, on which I’m a regular writer. There’s a new episode out every Friday morning and the whole back-catalogue of the show is available online now.

And finally, we are currently putting the finishing touches to the Tourist Trap Rugby Special, which will be broadcast on BBC One Wales on 8^th March, the eve of Wales vs. Scotland. Once again I’ve worked with Sian Harries and Tudur Owen on the plots and scenes for this semi-improvised one-off which sees the whole team return ahead of a second series later in the year.

January 2019 - Alternative Archive

This Saturday Gareth Gwynn's Alternative Archive will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 as part of the Archive On 4 strand. Kicking-off with an actual scientist explaining the Many Worlds theory it is (to my knowledge) the first Archive On Four to look, not backwards, but sideways - as we listen-in to radio stations from alternative universes.

We'll be covering a universe in which the UK is two foot underwater, where Russia won the space race and we'll be finding out how a BBC Radio 5 Live presenter caused a financial crash. We'll meet a British Pope, a Pan Pipe Playing Paul McCartney and a clutch of politicians doing day jobs you wouldn't expect. 

Of course, the best part about it all is that I can legitimately refer to it as an "award-winning show". I don't even need to wait and see if it will win an award. In a universe, somewhere, it will win one. That's how this works. The show will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday 19th January at 8pm - and will be available afterwards on BBC Sounds. 

In other news, Jolyon Rubinstein's topical podcast We Need To Talk About... is returning to Spotify - and I'll be back on the writing team. The new series starts on 25th January and will feature comedians, journalists, politicians and musicians discussing the week's news. If you've never heard it before, head to Spotify now where you can find the whole back catalogue - plus four "Best Bits" episodes covering Brexit, Trump, Russia and the rest of UK Politics.
 

December 2018 - O'r Diwedd

O'r Diwedd 2018 is finished. S4C's annual look back at the year, which I co-write with Sian Harries and Tudur Owen (left) has been filmed, edited, and handed in - so we'd really appreciate it if nobody did anything newsworthy until 9pm on the 27th December. The finished show features guest appearances from Alun Saunders and Esyllt Sears and will be available afterwards (with subtitles) on S4C Clic and BBC iPlayer.

BBC Radio Wales will be repeating Gareth Gwynn's Twisted History of BBC Radio Wales over the Christmas period. The two episodes, which also feature Elis James, Nadia Kamil and a healthy chunk of the BBC Radio Wales archive, were originally made to celebrate the station's 40th anniversary, but will be broadcast again at 6.30pm on the 27th and 28th December and will then be available afterwards on BBC Sounds.

Also on BBC Sounds right now, all eight episodes of Ankle Tag, the sitcom I co-write with Benjamin Partridge, starring Elis James, Katy Wix and Steve Speirs, are also available to stream and download.

November 2018 - Beef and Beefs

Ankle Tag is now available on the BBC Radio 4 Comedy Of The Week Podcast. Episode 1 from Series 2 of the sitcom, which I co-write with Benjamin Partridge, is now on the feed - but if you then head to the website or BBC Sounds app, you can catch all 4 episodes, starring Elis James, Katy Wix and Steve Speirs - with a special appearance by Margaret Cabourn-Smith (who stood-in for Katy at the very last minute on episodes 3 and 4).

Tudur Owen - Where On Earth Is Anglesey is a brand-new two-part show by Tudur Owen about the island of Anglesey, actively combating the fact that it seems to be left off of maps with alarming frequency. I scripted-edited the show and the first part will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 11pm on Tuesday 27th November, and will then be available on BBC Sounds and later on the BBC Flip Podcast Feed.

Beef And Dairy Network Podcast - I made a second appearance on Benjamin Partridge's Beef-based comedy podcast in Episode 41 as Alex Neon, curator of the Network's archive. In this edition, I explain the importance of the International Beef Library and the history of the handheld console, the Beef Boy. Featuring a storming performance as computer game enthusiast Matt Lees.

Twisted History - Both parts of this show, written and presented by me and produced by Sharif Shahwan, looking back at 40 years of BBC Radio Wales , are now available online and via the BBC Sounds app.

This was part of a huge amount of programming marking the station's 40th - and once you've caught-up with Twisted History, I'd personally recommend I Was There about the very first days of the station - featuring an interview with Vincent Kane about the fact he didn't get the breakfast show... And the second link to a programme on this blog-post containing a massive beef.

October/November 2018 - Box Sets

Ankle Tag - A brand new series of the sitcom I co-write with Benjamin Partridge starts on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday 31st October at 6.30pm - and will then be available online immediately afterwards. It starts Elis James, Katy Wix and Steve Speirs (pictured) and right now, thanks to BBC Wales' Festival Of Funny, all of series 1 is online too - The perfect opportunity to mainline the lot and really put this new BBC Sounds app through its paces.

Tourist Trap -The semi-improvised sketch-show set in a fictionalized version of the Welsh tourist board and starring pretty much everyone you like (pictured) has had the Box Set treatment from BBC Wales. As such every episode - including the ones that haven't even appeared on a proper telly yet - are available on the website now. Together with Sian Harries and Tudur Owen, I'm part of the main writing team for the show and I also provide the voice over - So when looking at the promotional photo of the show over on the left, imagine it's my voice reading all the bumph. 

Gareth Gwynn's Twisted History of BBC Radio Wales - I've just finished work on a brand new two-part edition of Twisted History, this time celebrating 40 years of BBC Radio Wales. The show is presented by me (pictured) and features Elis James, Nadia Kamil, Lynn Bowles and a healthy mixture of archive recordings taken out of context, or archive recordings in their correct context but sounding equally ridiculous. The episodes will be broadcast on the 5th and 12th of November and will be online afterwards.

And finally, I'm pleased to say I've been nominated for the Gethin Thomas Comedy Award at this year's Audible Audio Production Awards. Having just checked, none of the shows which made-up my award entry are available online, but a short animation released to promote Just A Minute 50 Years In 28 Minutes is still on the show's webpage, so it's a handy excuse to pop that on the blog again...

October 2018 - Tourist Traps

On Tuesday, episode one of The Tourist Trap will be broadcast on BBC One Wales. 

The improvised sketch show set in a fictionalised version of the Welsh tourist board stars Sally Phillips, Mike Bubbins, Elis James, Mari Beard, Tom Price, Tudur Owen, Sara Lloyd-Gregory, Leroy Brito, Sarah Breese and just bloody loads more really great people. 

I'm on the main writing team for the show, together with Tudur Owen and Sian Harries, although "writing" is such an odd description for how this programme is actually put together. 

As a semi-improvised show, Sian, Tudur, and I created a bunch of characters and, together with with other writers, outlined reams and reams of funny situations, awkward encounters and horrible predicaments we could put them through. The full 200+ page document really is the stuff of nightmares.

Then, months later, we got sent a Vimeo link and the chance to see what happened, how people coped and what got scaled down for budgetary reasons. Honestly, I imagine this is exactly what it's like to be God. 

Tourist Trap is part of BBC Wales' Festival Of Funny which sees sitcoms and stand-up appear all over BBC Wales' radio and television stations. As part of it all Ankle Tag, the sitcom I co-wrote with Benjamin Partridge starring Elis James, Katy Wix and Steve Spiers, is being repeated on Monday nights on BBC Radio Wales (and on iPlayer afterwards) - so you can catch up with Series 1 ahead of the second series appearing on BBC Radio 4 in November.

Also on the BBC Radio Wales website right now is my documentary about holidaying in Wales, Welsh Under Canvas. It's not strictly part of the Festival Of Funny, but it does feature tourism - something which is fast becoming the overlap in the Venn diagram of my recent work for BBC Wales. 

And also available right now as a BBC podcast is Felicity Ward's Appisodes - a show which I script edited that was broadcast earlier this year. The new "Flip" feed acts as a chance to download BBC radio comedies as a box-set, meaning all four episodes of the show are available right now.

I've got loads more exciting stuff coming out soon too, but I'm writing this in a coffee shop and with very low battery so details on that, and proper photos to do with the above will just have to wait.