The Linguist

8 The Linguist Vol/60 No/4 2021 thelinguist.uberflip.com MULTILINGUAL TV STAR TURN Celia Imrie as Faith's mother in Keeping Faith/ Un Bore Mercher (above); and Siôn Alun Davies and Siân Reese-Williams in Craith/Hidden How are bilingual Welsh-English shows made? Miranda Moore speaks to the makers of Keeping Faith and Hidden to find out F aith Howells is one of those roles that actors dream of playing. Relatable, funny, empassioned and complex, the character had viewers gripped as she struggled to make sense of her husband's disappearance in the surprise BBC hit Keeping Faith. Eve Myles brought charisma, strength and vulnerability to the part, which was reportedly written for her. Yet she has admitted to turning it down four times because she doubted her ability to learn the Welsh script. Shot in both English and Welsh, and co-commissioned by the Welsh-language channel S4C, the show was first broadcast in Wales as Un Bore Mercher. Its success – it was one of the BBC's top five shows of 2018 – marked a significant milestone for S4C. Established with government funding in 1982 following a campaign by Welsh-language activists, it initially broadcast a mix of Welsh- language content and English-language shows from Channel 4 (which launched at the same time). Under scrutiny from Westminster, it was criticised for poor viewing figures, but by 2019-2020, 11.5 million people across the UK were watching its shows (more than three times the population of Wales). Since 2010, it has broadcast entirely in Welsh. Dual language series with two different versions (usually one entirely in Welsh and one entirely in English) are distinct from bilingual shows, where the two languages mix in each episode. S4C's first attempts included Tân ar y Comin/A Christmas Reunion, starring Edward Woodward (1993). But it wasn't until the success of Scandi noirs such as The Killing and The Bridge that the channel found a tried and tested model of filming back to back (with each scene shot in one language and then the other). The joint S4C/BBC Wales drama Y Gwyll/Hinterland became the first breakout success of its kind, with Netflix picking up the English version. First airing in 2013 and running to three series, Hinterland firmly established the Welsh noir genre, pushing boundaries when it came to including Welsh-language dialogue in the English script. Its success is credited as showing proof of concept for bilingual programming, paving the way for more Welsh-language content in future back- to-back productions. When Craith/Hidden followed in 2018, there was a Welsh version and a bilingual version that was predominantly in English but included episodes with almost 50% of the scenes in Welsh. Executive Producer Ynyr Williams spoke to me as filming on the third series was coming to an end. "You have to have credibility so that the sales agents and distributors know that you will deliver something in two languages which is strong and dramatically interesting, and I think that's what happened with Hinterland." Who speaks what? The first episode of Hidden begins with a scene in English, as DCI Cadi John (Siân Reese-Williams) speaks to her terminally ill father after a long absence. Subsequent scenes are entirely in Welsh: as the body of a young woman is discovered, the detectives interview her father; in a remote cottage the perpetrator interacts with his mother and daughter. A nurse uses the phrase 'No rest for the wicked' in her Welsh-language chatter, as English words perforate the Welsh dialogue, reflecting the way people speak in bilingual areas. "The great thing about Hidden, and Hinterland before it, is that it shows a bilingual country where it is totally natural in some places to speak Welsh and English at the same time," says Williams by phone from Caernarfon, a castle town where the two languages mix freely in everyday conversation. Decisions are made about which language to use for each scene during the early stages of production. "I usually talk with the producers about the precincts where Welsh would be the predominant language. There were about five or six scenes in a cottage and all of that was shown in the Welsh language, because we thought that that would be the natural language for that location," he says. "The producers and myself speak at least two languages, so we've an innate understanding of the linguistic issues of Wales, So good they shot it twice

• Cover