Sunday 5 January 2014

Hinterland or the Bridge why did we have to chose?

Last night TV was a bit of a viewing dilemma in a ridiculous move  BBC Cymru /Wales decided to show the English Language version of Y Gwyll (English: The Dusk) bow  known in English by the name Hinterland at the same time it clashed with the second series  of the Swedish/Danish  police detective series  The  Bridge .

 The show was filmed in both Welsh and English. The Welsh version was broadcast on S4C in October

Having watched the Welsh Language version with subtitles on S4C already. I opted to watch the Bridge, working on the theory I could watch Hinterland t again on BB4 when they show it later this year though the date is unspecified.

But it makes me think was it really necessary to shoot it in both languages and wouldn't it be interesting to show the Welsh language  version with subtitles on BBC4  or did BBC bosses insist it be in English on a UK wide channel?

A similar scenario occurred with the excellent   Mind to Kill is a police detective series set in Wales, UK. It was developed from a 1991 pilot which starred Philip Madoc as DCI Bain, and Hywel Bennett. The series ran from 1994 to 2004 and first aired as Yr Heliwr on S4C, the Welsh language TV channel, But the main channels didn't take it up and it was eventually  being broadcast on the, Channel 5.  Which limited its impact

I suspect if Hinterland had been shot only in English then the BBC would have been reluctant to show the series UK wise its idea of diversity is to make shows like Dr Who in Cardiff and then claim it as a Welsh output  even if there is no Welsh content in it.

Perhaps someone at BBC Cymru/Wales can explain to me what's going on.

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1 comment:

Gonzoland said...

Hi,
If you download Hinterland from iPlayer, you'll have until 4 February to click on play for the first time.