In search of HINTERLAND

How the landscapes of Ceredigion became Wales’ answer to TV Scandi-noir.

WHEN WE ASKED the question on CW’s Facebook page: “So who likes BBC One’s Hinterland?”, we weren’t quite prepared for the response.

Eleven thousand people opened the photo we put with it and hundreds posted to articulate how much they love this strange, bleak, brutal and highly-acclaimed detective drama.

“Gets you totally hooked,” said Jen Allford. “Great storyline and characters,” said Sue Corden. “I was an extra in the first series,” interjected Karen Rosier, making many people rather jealous.

But above all, the reason everyone loves it was clear: the landscape, and the way it’s photographed ( you can see the first two series now on Netflix).

Set on the murky mountains of Ceredigion, between Aberystwyth and Devil’s Bridge, Hinterland – or Y Gwyll, meaning ‘ The Dusk’ – is what you might call Cymru-Noir. Borrowing the visual styles of Scandinavian dramas like The Killing, it follows the sombre investigations of DCI Tom Mathias and DI Mared Rhys as a series of murders and disappearances bring out the dark secrets of the cold, water-soaked hills of mid-Wales.

After three successful series, a new book has set out to capture those wild hills and coastlines in print. Combining landscape photography by David Wilson (a superfan of the show) with on-set photos, Hinterland: Ceredigion Landscapes is sumptuous and stunning.

“We really wanted to make the landscape a hero of our series,” says series co-creator and writer Ed Thomas.

“We wanted a place where, even if you turned the volume down, the hero’s existential angst would be reflected in what was around him. I like to hope we succeeded.”

Ed was raised in Brecon, and being a keen walker he originally had the stirring lines of the