Bilingual crime drama set to go with a bang
THIS brand-new Sunday night drama on S4C is a crime series about blood, love and human relationships set in the industrial town of Port Talbot.
Written by talented author Roger Williams, Bang is S4C’s first-ever bilingual drama.
Loner Sam (Jacob Ifan) has his life transformed when he comes into possession of a gun and starts to break the law.
His ambitious policewoman sister Gina (Catrin Stewart) is paid to uphold it – and makes it her personal mission to find the owner of the weapon.
“Sam is a really interesting character to play, because he is a character that goes on a big journey through the whole breadth of the series,” explains actor Jacob Ifan, 24.
“He starts off as a bit of a ghost of a man in some ways – he’s almost an empty shell of a person. Everything changes in Sam’s life when he gets his hands on a gun.
“It kind of gives a spark or another dimension to his life and Sam’s life starts to spiral out of control.”
The family saga plays out against an inquiry into the shooting of a local businessman that raises troubling questions for Sam and Gina about their own father’s murder when they were young children.
The eight-part series – set and shot on location in the community of Port Talbot and the Afan Valley – is directed by Philip John (The Halcyon, Outlander, Downton Abbey) and Ashley Way (Ice, Ripper Street, Stella, Y Streic a Fi), and produced by Catrin Lewis Defis (The Collection, Broadchurch).
Bang also breaks new ground on S4C as the drama switches between English and Welsh in an entirely natural way to portray dialogue as it is spoken in this part of Wales.
But what it was like having to act in two languages within one scene?
“Because I’m bilingual, it felt completely natural!” says Jacob, from Aberystwyth.
“In drama, I always feel that the duty of the production is to reflect the societies that we live in. It makes this series different but I think – hopefully – it works well, sounds natural and people relate will to it.”
The cast also stars Gillian Ellisa, Gareth Jewell, Suzanne Packer, Jack Parry-Jones, Nia Roberts and Chris Reilly.