Steffan Cennydd (Gwledd/Feast, Craith/Hidden, The Pembrokeshire Murders) is a young actor with a glittering career before him – but he was delighted to go back to his home town to film the second series of the successful S4C drama Yr Amgueddfa (The Museum) in West Wales.
So, Steffan how great was it for you to be filming in Carmarthen?
STEFFAN: It was great to work so close to home. I have been going to Carmarthenshire Museum in Abergwili since I was a young boy with school. They’ve recently done loads of renovation work on the place and it looks great. So it was really nice to be able to make the most of it and show it off on the screen to everybody else because it’s a fantastic building.
I kept seeing people I knew – there were people who worked in the museum that I knew. The cast was staying in the Ivy Bush hotel and my friend runs the Ivy Bush, so I had all the ‘inside knowledge’. Although I stayed at my home when we were filming, so that was nice.
What happens in the second series of Yr Amgueddfa? What are Caleb’s main storylines this time?
STEFFAN: Things have changed for Caleb. In the first series, Caleb was being controlled by Fioled (Delyth Wyn) in order to get to Della (Nia Roberts). But now that that is over, Caleb is free at last at the end of the first series.
In the second series, he and Della move to the west while he finishes his degree in art history and he is writing his dissertation while he is down there. He also gets a part-time job with a woman who does house clearances and through her, he finds pieces of art.
Has Caleb’s character changed after everything that happened to him in the first series?
STEFFAN: Has Caleb changed? It was really interesting coming to the second series and feeling ‘well, we don’t really know who this bloke is. We don’t really know him without the angst and that undercurrent where he did all these things Fioled made him do’.
So it was like discovering the person anew, without all this. Who is he when he is just sitting at home or sorting the house or having a nice time without having to do something under the surface. Just living his life and writing his dissertation.
So it was really nice finding this new person. It was like discovering the character backwards to the way you usually do it.
In what way is the second series different to the first series?
STEFFAN: It is a really different feeling – because Della and Caleb have moved away and are living in such a rural setting. The houses are old – the houses themselves are like historical characters. Some of the locations are amazing.
They look as if they are on holiday somewhere in the South of France. We were quite lucky with the weather – it looks really summery and relaxed. It’s is really different.
Was it nice to be back working with the cast and crew of Yr Amgueddfa once again?
STEFFAN: It was lovely – you become one big family when you do such a long shoot. It was really nice to pick that up again and welcome new people too.
When the story moves away from Cardiff to a new museum, we meet new staff and new families too. It was nice mixing the old with the new – it was a really great experience.
The next episode of Yr Amgueddfa will be on Sunday, 8 January at 9.00pm but you can watch the entire series now on S4C Clic – S4C’s on demand service.
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