Llangollen actor makes history with Covid filming for Welsh sitcom
An actor from the Llangollen area has made broadcasting history by becoming the first in the UK to complete a comedy drama series during the Covid-19 lockdown – with a bubble created for the cast and crew in a closed down pub.
Production of the new sitcom, Rybish or Rubbish in English, set in a recycling centre, was brought to a halt in March by the coronavirus crisis but the producers, Cwmni Da came up with a plan to carrying on filming.
Members of the crew self-isolated for a fortnight before resuming and they were tested regularly throughout the shoot.
They included Dyfed Thomas, from Llangollen.
When they were not working, the team were holed up in an empty pub, The Beuno, on the north coast of the Llŷn Peninsula.
The company built their own recycling centre on an old landfill site at Carmel, near Caernarfon.
They used fixed cameras which were remotely controlled to film the remaining episodes in the six-part series which will be screened on S4C in the coming months.
Director Sion Aaron said: “As we were filming the very first take of the fourth episode, we had a call from the office to tell us to drop tools due to the increasing risk of the spread of the coronavirus.
“When lockdown started to ease we were able to form a bubble, the cast of six, the writer and producer and myself, so we could live together after taking over the Beuno which closed years ago, and work together to film the remaining three episodes.
“We created a new role as we had, what we Christened our Covid Cop, on set at all times to ensure compliance with Covid-19 regulations.”
The sitcom revolves around daily life at a remote recycling centre in Gwynedd and follows the six members of staff as they go about the daily grind of their working lives and what they get up to.
“I know some soap operas are also back filming but they are using camera techniques that make it look like the actors are far closer than they are. We didn’t want that.
“As most of the action in Rybish takes place in a workers’ cabin that just wouldn’t have worked. There wouldn’t be enough space, and it would've been harder for the cast to relax into their characters."
Producer and BAFTA Cymru award winning writer Barry Jones who wrote Rybish was delighted to get the filming wrapped.
He said: “The fact we built our own set in such a remote setting meant were isolated and didn’t have members of the public stopping by.
“It also helped that we did the filming in a unique way. We had the cameras in a fixed rig mostly above the actors. I wanted it in that style as if the viewer is getting a sneaky look at what is going on.
