Hinterland

Richard Harrington as Tom Mathias

Well, I am impressed. Wales has finally produced a good, film noir-ish tv detective series.
Filmed in two versions, the totally Welsh Hinterland was aired last year on s4c ( the Welsh equivalent of channel 4) and it proved to be such a critical and popular success that the mainly English version of the same  episodes started to air this evening.
With its brooding scenery ( centred around the Mid Wales town of Aberystwyth) , the occasional subtitles over a sing song language and it's  sombre look at police work by a troubled leading character ( Tom Mathias- a cop with a dark past) , I am not surprised that s4c has already sold the series to Scandinavian TV.
It's Wallender with sheep!

18 comments:

  1. What could be better than Wallender with sheep!

    Oh btw, I have meant to ask if you have seen the movie "Dean Spanley"?

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    1. Carol
      I am not a fan of Peter o toole so it would not be a film it would ever choose...is it good?

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    2. Oh dear. Well it IS good - a clergyman believes he is reincarnated and in his last life he was Peter O'Toole's dog when O'Toole was youngster. Touching and sweet.

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  2. ohhhhhhh..right up my alley......

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  3. Just paving the way for the gritty but lighthearted series about a scruffy old queen with a passel of Ukranian livestock and a collection of food-stained jumpers. Can't wait for the loo-bleaching episode!

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  4. Local series are great to watch. I love seeing familiar places with fictional characters.

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  5. Oh John! "Not a fan of Peter O'Toole"?! (Reels back in shock.) Never mind, it takes all sorts. But I think you'd like Dean Spanley, it's a gentle odd little film about the relationship between man and dog. And Dean Spanley is played by the gorgeous Sam Neill. (Don't tell me you're not a fan of Sam Neill!)

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  6. This sounds so good. I hope netflix gets it so I can watch it.
    Does the English version come with subtitles or dubs ?

    cheers, parsnip

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  7. Sounds like it would have been the perfect programme for the now defunct Telly-Welly-Wales.

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  8. Sounds interesting - Wonder how long it'll be before one of our channels picks it up ? Possibly SBS it's supposed to be multicultural and multilingual !

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  9. It looks interesting, I will check out when we are back in TV land!

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  10. Oooh I missed it, I'm only just geting to grips with s4c, it totally confused me when I expected to see C4 there!!

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  11. Don't think it was aired up here - anyway, it would probably have clashed with 'The Bridge II' and quite frankly, I don't think I could take much more mean and brooding on a Saturday night......except if it was sitting beside me on my sofa at the same time!Have a good week.x
    ps Lady M sent me pics of the Flower Show. You looked all shiny and bright and happy - you scrub up well, Jock!lol

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  12. Loved it. Watched it on the net - 8 episodes in a single week. Have never been as obsessive about a fictional TV series in years. It even tops Twin Peaks. Loved the sparseness of the cast and the script, the bleakness of the scenery and storylines. As I said, it makes Broadchurch look like a Busby Berkeley routine.

    Oh - and the last few minutes of episode 8 I was forever catching my breath - one minute you thought that was the end, and then it was left wide open for the next can of worms to be examined.



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    1. It does have a bit of quality about it I agree
      Nice to meet someone else who saw it x

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  13. I hope PBS picks this up. I'll send them a note.

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