Pobol y Cwm

Last year I was bored and stumbled upon the soap on iplayer, I realised it was in welsh and decided to give it a try as it had subtitles. I haven't looked back since then, as someone who finds it hard to get into soaps, I was immediately hooked after a couple episodes. The writing and the storylines felt significantly better to the ones on the english soaps. The language barrier may seem intimidating and might deter you from watching but once you watch long enough you pick up on certain phrases/words. The subtitles aren't always a hundred percent accurate when translating every word into english but it does the job. I definitely recommend this soap to non welsh speakers as it's great to learn a new language while you watch. I always joke to myself that if I watch long enough then I won't need subtitles anymore! 😅

Back in the day, well, the 1980's. We were able to get a fuzzy reception of S4C sat in Merseyside which opened a treasure trove of great telly such as 'sgorio' the first channel to show European football in the UK and of course 'Pobol y Cwm'.

Originally shown on BBC2 in the afternoons in the seventies. Pobol y Cwm is the UK's third longest running soap and one of the few that is mainly spoken in the Welsh language, set in rural west Wales in a small town of Cwmderi - it has all the ingredients of a typical soap and with it some excellent acting which has provided a steady pathway of a lot of Welsh small screen stars that have gone onto make it big.

It's still going strong in 2024, like Emmerdale, it has transformed from soap highlighting rural issues into something more dynamic, unlike Emmerdale, it has kept its feet firmly on the ground and within reality, no airliner has come crashing down on Cwmderi for now.

For people who don't understand Welsh, there are subtitles to help you along though there are on the odd occasion English characters that come in and out of the show, the show's main language is Welsh and one of the most unique and entertaining shows on British telly.

A great soap which is more 'true to life' than any English soap. The casting is 'spot-on' and the story lines are very up-to-date. It helps that the soap is recorded each day and is aired on TV that night usually so little details like newspapers and rugby matches etc are for the day shown if you see what I mean! My family and I watch using the subtitles but are learning Welsh. I think it's a shame that more people don't watch it because subtitles put them off, but if they watched just a couple of episodes they would be hooked. My children are teenagers and they love it. It appeals to all ages, and the fact that they are all doing well learning Welsh is a plus. We have watched this program for years and we will continue to do so.

Pobol Y Cwm has been running for nearly, 30 years. It was and is the first and only Welsh Soap, and has been the cornerstone of s4c since it's formation in 1982. It is set in Ceredigion, West Wales, which has a high Welsh Speaking Population, as the soap is in Welsh. Some of the most popular characters over the years have been Dic Deryn, Meic Pierce, Denzil, Reg Harris, Kath Jones, and Mrs McGurk (Mrs Mac). It is a highly enjoyable daily soap, although it's appeal seems to mostly be older people rather than the youngsters who still tend to watch English soaps such as Eastenders, which is a shame really.

Pobol Y Cwm is set in the village of Cwmderi in Carmarthenshire (not Ceredigion or Cardiganshire to give it it's English name) It is by far and away the best soap opera to be made in Britain at the present time, it has it all. Drama, humour and humanity. I particularly like the way it handles certain real life situations such as bereavement, in a far more realistic manner than any other soap. Maybe because I live not to far from where it is set and many places I know well are talked about and filmed in means I can relate to it more than one set in the East end of London where every other person is a gangster. It's subtitled into English, so if you can receive it them give it a whirl.