Written by Shona Smith on Oct 21, 2019. Posted in General Interest

Channel 4’s The Accident shot on location in Wales

The four-part drama is the final instalment of a trilogy of work written by Jack Thorne for Channel 4, which looks into modern Britain.

The series is set in the fictional village of Glyngolau, a valley community in South Wales, that has been left behind until a large construction project offers hope for the regeneration in the region. But an explosion and subsequent collapse leaves many dead and the community devastated.

Sarah Lancashire (Happy Valley, Kiri) stars in the series, playing Polly, the wife of the local politician who championed the project, played by Mark Lewis Jones (National Treasure). Their rebellious daughter Leona (Jade Croot) broke onto the site the day of the explosion, but is left with a lifelong disability after the disaster. While the story is not based on any true events, research was done into the incidents at Grenfell and Aberfan amongst others.

Explaining why he set the project in Wales, Bafta wining screenwriter Thorne explained that because he is half Welsh, he has “spent a lot of my life in and around Wales. Those valley town have been decimated by the industrial changes we have had in the last 30 years and there is not industry left. So I tried to think of an area where investment would be encouraged to a degree that would allow us to tell the story that we wanted to tell. There are of course lots of areas in the UK that could have worked for that, but Wales somehow felt right and those valley towns are 1) so beautiful and 2) so economically deprived I thought it would be an interesting theme to explore”.

Previous instalments of the “blame” trilogy shot in other UK regions. National Treasure that is based on Operation Yewtree filmed on location across the north of England and was supported by Screen Yorkshire. Kiri, that looks into the trial after the abduction of a young child also shot in Wales, as well as Bristol.

Thorne added that his previous experience in Wales encouraged him to return, this time telling a Welsh set story. The writer said “I’ve done two shows Kiri and His Dark Materials which used Welsh government funds and neither of them have a lot of welsh people in them and I love the Welsh culture and I love Welsh actors and I thought it was an opportunity to get them in the show”.

Wales has become a production hot spot in recent years. Netflix production Cursed, His Dark Materials and HBO's Industry have all worked in the country.

Image Credit: Channel 4