WELSH TV LEGENDS A GENERATION ADORED
GROWING up, there was always something brilliant to watch on TV. Whether it was a rainy day or after a hard day’s work in school, we’d switch on our TV and watch endless hours of children’s programmes.
Perhaps those memories have stuck with us, and more specifically, the TV characters we watched have stayed with us as well. They’d make us laugh, they taught us valuable lessons in life, and sometimes we desperately wanted to be them.
With that in mind, we’ve looked at 13 TV legends that shaped our childhood in Wales during the ’90s and early Noughties.
JEIFIN JENKINS
Does a Welsh-language children’s presenter based on a Teddy Boy need more of an introduction? If you were a kid in West Wales in the early ’90s, this guy was your Fonz.
Jeifin – whose TV shows included Hafoc, Jeifin and Jeifin yn Bobman (that’s “Jeifin Everywhere”), was occasionally accompanied by a sidekick called Handel, played by none other than the late Huw Ceredig, aka Reg Harris from Pobol y Cwm, aka Fatty Lewis from Twin Town.
DEWI PWS
Dewi “Pws” Morris has been around for decades as a musician, actor and the Children’s Poet Laureate for Wales. Over the years, he’s appeared in various TV shows and films, such as Welsh-language soap opera Rownd a Rownd and the iconic film Grand Slam. He’s also the lead singer of Y Tebot
Piws and a member of the rock band Edward
H Dafis. dren’s entertainer famed for his singing. You know, classics like “Un bys, dau bys, tri bys yn dawnsio” and “Penblwydd Hapus Mawr i ti”. On Slot Meithrin, he used to present S4C programmes with his sidekick Wcw – the edgy one of the double act. A punk-rock cuckoo, Wcw wore a leather jacket and had a mohican. His favourite food was “bara, te a sos coch” – a classic combo.
Y BRODYR GREGORY
This year, brothers Paul and Adrian Gregory are celebrating 50 years in entertainment. The brothers from Rhydaman began their careers working in the club scene in northern England before returning to Wales. Their most notable kids’ programme was Y Brodyr Bach.
JINI ME JOS
Jini Me Jos walked so Tracy Beaker could run. The mischievous girl from Gwynedd got in all sorts of trouble, such as engaging in a mud and paint war with her arch-nemesis Glenys and sneaking itchy powder into the jacket of a former ormer love interest. There was never a dull moment with Jini Me and that’s ’s why we loved her.
MISTAR URDD DD
For the kids ds in Wales, Mistar Urdd is real al in the same way that Santa anta is and that’s never going to change. The e lovable red, white e and green egg- ggshaped creature turns up at every Eisteddfod, Glan-llyn and Llangrannog trip. This year, he celebrated 100 years of existence and it seems he has no plans of retiring any time soon.
MR PICTON AND WALI TOMOS
Incredibly, C’Mon Midffild! first aired in 1988. It’s one of the most successful series ever broadcast on S4C and would hold its own against the best British comedies of the era. At its heart were Arthur Picton, Tecwyn Parri, George Huws and Sandra. Then there was Wali Tomos, played by the late Mei Tomos. Wali was largely incomprehensible without subtitles, even to fluent Welsh-speakers.
SYR WYNFF A PLWMSAN
Who could forget Syr Wynff ap Concord y Bos and Plwmsan y Twmffat bach Twp? And who could forget their Taid (grandfather) who, rather alarmingly, was essentially a puppet with a real human hand?
These two were up to no good most of the time but were very popular. Unfortunately, the comedy series came to an end in 1989 and more than 15,000 people signed a petition to save the characters.
SUPERTED
How could we forget SuperTed? An incredible bear with an incredible backstory. Mike Young was living in Cardiff in the early 1980s when he invented a teddy bear hero and spotty sidekick to entertain his young stepson Richard.
SuperTed helped launch S4C in 1982 and soon took off globally. It was later licensed by the Walt Disney Company for its new cable channel and for release in the States on Disney Home Video – a Disney first at the time. Mike and his wife Liz then set up Mike Young Productions after relocating from Pentyrch to Los Angeles.
SAM TAN / FIREMAN SAM
This classic children’s television series is still going strong and rightfully so. In case you didn’t know, it’s about a fireman named Sam, his fellow firefighters and other residents of the fictional rural village of Pontypandy – a combination of Pontypridd and Tonypandy. There was no denying it had the catchiest theme song ever, courtesy of composer and singer Maldwyn “Mal” Pope.
RIO WELLARD
“All right, who’s got my Maroon 5 CD? CD?” was probably one of the most ic iconic lines to come out of BBC c children’s programme The S Story of Tracy Beaker. The actor w who played the character, Craig Ro Roberts, has gone on to make quit quite a name for himself, starring in hit h films such as Submarine, Neigh Neighbors and 22 Jump Street. We can only wish him the best in his career and hope that he did eventually find his Maroon 5 CD.
SALI MALI
Arguably, one of the most famous women to come out Wales. Known for rocking a bright orange dress and a topknot before it was cool, Sali Mali originally appeared in a children’s book by Mary Vaughan Jones in 1969. Sali Mali has been a friend to thousands of Welsh children as she helped them learn to read.
Sali hit the small screen in 1994 with the live-action children’s show Caffi Sali Mali. That spawned a series called Slot Syniadau Sali. An animated TV series about Sali’s adventures was subsequently released in 2000.
The books of her adventures have been published in languages including English, German, Danish, Arabic, Norwegian and Spanish, while the TV show has been dubbed into 14 other languages including Polish and Korean. The animated TV series has also been sold to more than 15 different countries.
RALA RWDINS
This character was a friendly witch whose tasks included taking care of the weather as well as a young witch called Rwdlan. The books and programme also included Dewin Dwl (“Silly Wizard”) and Dewin Doeth (“Wise Wizard’”), Llipryn Llwyd, who was always sad, and Ceridwen, who w a s a l ways reading.