But the BBC’s depiction of North Wales in new drama Framed was missing one vital element – the right accent.

Viewers of the network drama, which aired on BBC One on Monday night, have complained that many of the show’s characters spoke in a softer South Walian accent. But the BBC has insisted it never meant to offend.

Filmed in and around Snowdonia’s Blaenau Ffestiniog, Framed, starring Trevor Eve and Eve Myles, was meant to be set in a fictional sleepy village in North Wales. But there was no sign of the strong North Walian accent, which can often be confused with a Liverpudlian accent when English is spoken, and is more nasal and high-pitched than the South Wales accent when Welsh is spoken.

Angharad Clwyd of the Welsh Language Society said: “It’s typical of the BBC’s laziness that they used a South Wales accent in an area with such a strong North Walian accent. They wouldn’t set a drama in Newcastle and people it with Cockneys would they?”

A viewer commented on the BBC’s website: “The research for this show must have been no more than watching an episode of Gavin & Stacey and How Green Was My Valley.”

Drama teacher Anne Jones of the Props theatre company in Colwyn Bay was outraged at the programme’s disregard for the North Walian accent and argued it was a symptom of the area’s inadequate representation in the TV industry.

“It was dreadful,” she said.

“The accents were South Walian and there was nothing of North Wales at all.

“Everything is centralised in South Wales and very rarely in North Wales, which seems small-minded.

“In the area the programme was meant to be based, the accent would have been a very hard ‘Gog’ accent, rather than the more lyrical accent in other areas. It is nothing like the South Wales accent.

“Some people think North Walians are from Liverpool or Lancashire. The South Walian accent is no more Welsh – it’s influenced by Somerset and Gloucestershire. But (on television) the stereotypical Welshman speaks with that accent.”

The BBC defended its choice of South Walian cast members by claiming they chose the best actors for the show, rather than focusing on accents.

A BBC spokeswoman told the Western Mail: “Absolutely central to the casting of Framed were the young child actors who played the Hughes children.

“After an extensive casting search, the children who shone out as the best qualified for the roles both happened to come from South Wales.

“We then took the difficult decision to allow them to concentrate on their performances rather than change their natural accents (very hard for a 10-year old to achieve) and once this decision was made all the other characters fitted into place around the central family.”

She added that the broadcaster’s priority was to do justice to Frank Cottrell Boyce’s novel, on which the series is based.

“We were fully aware of the differences between the North and South Wales accent and never meant to cause offence, but all productions have to be adaptable when working with children,” said the spokeswoman.

“We felt that the priority was to deliver Frank’s enchanting book to BBC One in a manner that celebrated the Welsh landscape, the Welsh vibrancy and the Welsh humour, and strove to be as authentic as we could be, given casting and budget constraints,” she added. “The production team were made extremely welcome when filming on location in Snowdonia and the programme has been very well received.”

Source: Wales Online

IT’S a long way from saving the planet in Torchwood but Eve Myles loved the change of pace playing a village school teacher in BBC One’s new one-off drama.

Framed was set and filmed almost entirely in Wales and tells how village life changes when a group of outsiders arrive.

Eve plays Angharad the local schoolteacher who finally manages to win through the reserved nature of a museum curator played by Trevor Eve.

The 90-minute drama is based on Frank Cottrell Boyce’s best-selling children’s novel of the same name.

It follows the lives of 10-year-old Dylan Hughes and his family’s struggle to keep afloat their small petrol station at the foot of a Welsh mountain.

When a convoy of men and trucks take up residence on the mountain, villagers discover that the National Gallery in London has been flooded and the priceless paintings sent to Wales for safekeeping in the old slate mine, as they were in World War Two.

In charge of this is Quentin Lester, played by Trevor, a reserved senior curator who is eventually drawn out of his shell by Angharad.

Filming in Wales was a sort of homecoming for both Eve and Trevor. Both actors loved filming in Snowdonia and in and around Cardiff.

Eve, 31, was born in Ystradgynlais and is used to filming at home playing Gwen in Dr Who spin-off Torchwood while Trevor, 58, one of television’s best known leading men, has family in Swansea and holidayed in Mumbles as a child.

Eve, 31, who is expecting her first child in November, admits it was hard switching from gun-toting Gwen in Torchwood to a gentle teacher from rural Wales.

“It’s been quite difficult actually because I’m used to doing bold things with guns,” she laughs.

“Angharad is different to Gwen she’s quieter, more thoughtful. She is not soft, she is feisty but she is a lot more complicated. She’s quite nosy, but she’s only nosy because she’s been living there for such a long time and not a lot happens.”

The actress was “blown over” by Frank Cottrell Boyce’s script. His story is aimed at all ages in the drama adaptation but it retains a non-cynical innocence from the children’s novel which Eve and Trevor enjoyed portraying.

“Frank is a tremendous writer. And to meet him in person was such a treat,” says the Welsh actress.

“I’d love to see a collaboration between him and Russell (T Davies) – that would just be out of this world.”

She said Cottrell’s romantic script for Framed has a feel-good factor that made her smile all the way through reading it.

“The script was beautiful.

“I love stories that are told through children’s eyes because everything is real and honest in that way because children tend not to lie.

“They tend to say the truth whether it gets them in trouble or not and I think that reflects life because it’s in your face, no cover-ups, no apologies and it’s totally beautiful.”

She’s hoping Framed will be part of the continuing boom in the television industry in Wales.

“When I was in college, everyone had to move to London for work but now its very different,” she says.

“ If you want to live and work in Cardiff you can because of the fantastic projects going on in BBC Wales. Plus there are an awful lot of projects coming down to Wales to be filmed because of the location and facilities.

“In the last five, six years it’s just gone ‘bam’ and some of the most popular dramas on television are being made in the city. I’m one of the proudest Welsh women to live knowing that fact – it is a very exciting time to be a part of it all.”

But for now Eve herself is taking a break from acting as she prepares for the birth of her first baby.

“I’m going to have my feet up and get huge. It’s almost hysterical how excited I am,” she says.

“I’ve bought everything you can think of. Everything is prepared and done and the only thing to arrive now is my little darling. Already the baby and I have a fabulous relationship. We have loads of conversations and we chat.

“It’s my miracle, it’s my blessing and I can’t wait. I’ve never been so grateful for something in all my life. So, as you can tell, I’m ecstatic.”

Playing opposite Trevor Eve she says she had to coax his reserved character Lester into the limelight but Angharad she is more than just a school ma’am out to melt the visiting museum curator.

“You see how lonely she’s been throughout the story and through her closeness with Lester you realise she has been here on her own for a long time,” Eve explains.

“ She’s been looking for a challenge, she has been a very big fish in a little pond until Lester arrives and she finally meets somebody who is on her level.”

Trevor, who has had leads in Waking the Dead, Hughie Green, Most Sincerely and the legendary ’70s private detective, Shoestring, says Framed was also a big change for him.

“Lester is very different from the roles that I usually play,” Trevor agrees.

“He’s not a criminal investigator for once or even a game show host,” he laughs.

“He’s the curator at the National Gallery, someone who has devoted his life to art and the appreciation of art.

“He’s intolerant of people and doesn’t find them as fascinating as the canvasses that are in front of him.”

To research the part he went to the National Gallery to find out about the paintings and how Lester might have operated there.

“I’ve spent time in the National Gallery and it’s not an effort believe me – I mean it’s just wonderful.

“I think the work is just spectacular, you read about it and you read about the lives of the artists and it’s amazing.”

In the end the Welsh villagers bring Trevor’s character round to an appreciation of people, Angharad in particular.

Trevor says he enjoyed working with Eve as well as the child actors in the drama, all of whom come from Wales.

“It’s been great working with Eve, she’s delightful, a really lovely girl,” he says. “And it’s a spectacular setting. The landscape is so dramatic, it’s quite wonderful up there (in Snowdonia), apart from the fact it seems to rain most of the time, but it’s breathtaking.

“I’ve really enjoyed filming in Wales.

“My mother was from South Wales so most of my holidays as a child were spent in the Mumbles, so it was my home. And part of my family still live in Swansea, so it’s familiar environment to me.”

Several scenes were filmed at Welsh Slate’s Cwt y Bugail quarries, known locally as Manod quarries, the exact place where priceless paintings were hidden from possible Nazi invaders during World War Two.

Franck Cottrell Boyce says he was “chuffed to bits” to film at the site which inspired his original book.

For Trevor not only his character but also the setting and his fellow actors were a change from previous work.

Many of his scenes were with child actors Samuel Davies, 12, from Swansea and Mari Ann Bull, 10, from Cardiff who play the Hughes children.

The veteran actor says he wouldn’t attempt” to give them advice.

“They’re really talented; their level of professionalism is amazing,” he says.

“They are more professional than me and I’ve been at it 35 years.”

It’s the children who bring the drama to a climax when a misunderstanding leads Lester to invite Dylan to view the paintings inside the mountain.

This sets off an extraordinary chain of events that transforms the lives of the villagers and Lester himself.

As millions tune in on Bank holiday Monday to find out what happens, Eve will be doing the same thing as she puts her feet up and waits for her next important engagement – her baby’s birth.

Framed, BBC One, Monday, 8.30pm

Source: Wales Online

In Framed Eve Myles plays Angharad, the local school teacher who finally manages to win through Lester’s reserved nature.

Speaking about the role Eve says: “Angharad is the local primary school teacher of the only school that they’ve got in the village, so children of all ages go there.

“She’s fun but she’s very fair, and she’s very ambitious but in a kind, generous way. She is at the heart of the village because she does a lot more than her job description in a very tight-knit community. She’s the pillar of the community and she wouldn’t have it any other way. She’s chosen to be here and not to leave and she makes the best of it.

“She’s quite nosey, but she’s only nosey because she’s been living there for such a long time and not a lot happens – it’s almost a groundhog day existence. So when Lester turns up he puts a different sort of ingredient into the everyday mix and she tries to spice it up as much as possible.”

Eve was last seen on BBC One saving the planet from an alien race in Torchwood, so was Framed a conscious change of pace?

“It is, and that’s why I wanted to do it. It been quite difficult actually, because I’m used to doing bold things with guns, but Angharad is different to Gwen, she’s quieter, more thoughtful.

“She is not soft, she is feisty but she is a lot more complicated. You see how lonely she’s been throughout the story and through her closeness with Lester you realise she has been here on her own for a long time.

“She’s been looking for a challenge, she has been a very big fish in a little pond until Lester arrives and she finally meets somebody who is on her level.”

Eve was blown over by Frank Cottrell Boyce’s script.

“The script was beautiful, it was gentle and made me smile all the way through reading it.

“And I love stories that are told through children’s eyes because everything is real and honest in that way because children tend not to lie. They tend to say the truth, whether it gets them in trouble or not, and I think that reflects life because it’s in your face, no cover-ups, no apologies and it’s totally beautiful.

“I think Frank is a tremendous writer. And to meet him in person was such a treat. He’s just so intelligent, so talented and bright. He comes up with endless ideas and superb scripts and I don’t know how he does it.

“He’s amazing and I’ve asked him to be on my pub quiz team. I would love to see collaboration between him and Russell [T Davies] – that would just be out of this world.”

Like Torchwood, a large part of Framed was filmed in and around Cardiff and Eve is delighted how strong the TV industry is in her home city.

“When I was in college, everyone had to move to London for work but now it’s very different. If you want to live and work in Cardiff you can because of the fantastic projects going on in BBC Wales.

“Plus, there are an awful lot of projects coming down to Wales to be filmed because of the location and facilities. In the last five, six years it’s just gone bam and some of most popular dramas on television are being made in the city.

“I’m one of the proudest Welsh women to live knowing that fact – it is a very exciting time to be a part of it all.”

But for now Eve is content to take a break from acting as she prepares for the birth of her first baby, which is expected later in the year.

“I am going to have my feet up and get huge. It’s almost hysterical how excited I am, I’ve bought everything you can think of. Everything is prepared and done and the only thing to arrive now is my little darling.

“Already the baby and I have a fabulous relationship. We have loads of conversations and we chat. It’s my miracle, it’s my blessing and I can’t wait. I’ve never been so grateful for something in all my life. So, as you can tell, I am ecstatic.”

Can Eve be even more sweet and amazing?

Full release

An adaptation of Framed by Macmillan Children’s author Frank Cottrell Boyce is to be broadcast on BBC1 this August Bank Holiday, with Trevor Eve and Eve Myles to star.

Set almost entirely in Wales, the drama tells the story of 10-year-old Dylan Hughes and his family’s small petrol station; when his father leaves the family, it coincides with the arrival of a contingent from the National Portrait Gallery in London, who have brought paintings to Wales for safe-keeping after the gallery was flooded. The novel was inspired by the real-life practice during the Second World War of keeping paintings in Welsh mines.

“Framed” was directed by Andy De Emmony, who has previously directed “Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story” and “God On Trial”; the producer is Richard Burrell and the executive producer Jessica Pope.

New information says that “Framed” will be broadcast as a primetime feature-length dramatisation on BBC1 on Monday 31st August. Apparently there was a change in BBC One’s scheduling or the date was wrong from TheBookseller.com.

This info comes from TheBookseller.com. Earlier reports had speculated that it wouldn’t come out until Christmas of this year, so this is really great news!

Here’s a quick preview of the film in case you missed it earlier: