Waking up to leaden skies and yet more rain driving against the window, I was very interested to hear an item on Radio 4’s Today programme about the potential for ‘Welsh Noir’ . Hinterland , a new detective drama currently being filmed in and around Aberystwyth, has been bought by DR Denmark, the Danish company behind The Killing . The weather here is certainly bleak and grey enough at times to make me feel as if I’m living in a Danish drama, but what’s made me a huge fan of Scandinavian dramas like The Killing and The Bridge is the quality of the writing. The second series of Borgen , the political drama, has, for me, been outstanding and I particularly like being allowed to work the story out for myself instead of being spoon-fed. So, will ‘Welsh Noir’ become the next big thing? Well, Ed Thomas, the producer of Hinterland , put his finger on the essence of wide appeal when he stressed that authentic stories also had to be universal; or, to use a familiar catch...
Christine Stovell, author and freelance writer, on living and writing in West Wales