Rownd a Rownd
Rownd a Rownd is a Welsh-language soap opera created by Rondo Media and shown on S4C since 11 September 1995. It was claimed to be the first Celtic-related language soap specifically directed at a youth audience. It is set in the fictional harbour town of Glanrafon in Anglesey.
At its inception, the soap was targeted towards an adolescent and young adult audience. It has since broadened its appeal but the main focus remains on the younger characters. Beginning with a small cast of characters, the serial now has upwards of thirty cast members.
The soap is consistently in the top 20 most watched programmes of the week on S4C, the show currently averaging around twenty thousand viewers per episode. Two episodes are produced each week; since February 2020 these have been broadcast at 20:25 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. In addition, a weekly omnibus with in-vision English language subtitles airs on Sunday daytime. Every summer Rownd a Rownd takes a two-month seasonal break, finishing in mid-July and restarting in September to coincide with the new academic year.
Background
Rownd a Rownd was first broadcast in September 1995 and was originally based on young people who did a paper round. It has since grown to include both their daily school life and their family life. Phil Redmond, creator of Grange Hill, Brookside and Hollyoaks, acted as a consultant to the series on its launch in 1995, and again on its tenth anniversary.The longest-serving cast member was Iestyn Garlick, who portrayed Jim "Gym" Williams. His character, a physical education teacher who subsequently became headmaster of the local high school, first appeared in September 1995 and remained until July 2020, spanning a tenure of 25 years. Following his departure, Angharad Lloyd’s character, Sophie Roberts, assumed the distinction of longest-serving regular, having appeared on the programme since 1997. Sophie’s parents, Glenda Phillips and Terry Phillips, who also debuted in 1997, now appear in a recurring capacity.
Production
The series is filmed in Menai Bridge, Llangefni, Anglesey and Caernarfon, North Wales, and is produced by Rondo Media. When it began, the production company converted a disused garage in Dale Street in Menai Bridge into a fake row of shops, which includes a café, a hairdresser, a newsagent, a taxi firm, a pizza place and a bar. There is a sign outside this set informing the public that the shops are not real. School scenes are filmed in Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni and Ysgol David Hughes. Hospital scenes are often filmed in nearby Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor, usually in one of the staff hostels. The soap also regularly makes use of incidental music; in keeping with the show's style, this usually consists of indie-pop or synth-pop music sung in Welsh.On 18 March 2020 it was announced that filming for Rownd a Rownd would be suspended in the light of the spread of COVID-19. Filming resumed in August 2020 with social distancing guidelines in place. Two additional filming sites were also added to Rownd a Rownd's set in Menai Bridge in order to keep people sufficiently apart; these are located in the near-by towns of Caernarfon and Llangefni.
'' Copsan ''
In 2022, a spin-off series called Copsan was uploaded to Clic and BBC iPlayer. This was a three-part series chronicling an eventful and comical detention session at Glanrafon high school. It featured several regular characters such as Vince, Dylan and Cai, as well as some new characters not seen in the regular show.A second series was broadcast in 2023. This was a six-part series about a group of 16-year-old Glanrafon students on an adventure weekend school trip, though none of the characters appear in Rownd a Rownd. Dylan is the only regular character to appear, doing so briefly in the first episode.