A host of Welsh celebrities, including Caerphilly-born TV presenter Matt Johnson, are to star in a new reality show for S4C.
Matt, who presents Channel Five’s OK TV and ITV’s This Morning will join seven other media stars to learn Welsh for programme cariad@iaith:love4language.
The week-long show, anchored by broadcaster Gareth Roberts, will follow the celebrities in nightly hour-long shows as part of S4C’s Welsh Learners’ Week
The series begins on S4C on Friday July 8 and finishes with a special awards ceremony and farewell evening on Friday, July 15.
Cameras will follow the Welsh language novices as they study four hours of Welsh per day under the tutorship of TV presenter and Welsh-language tutor Nia Parry and leading Welsh-language tutor Ioan Talfryn.
Matt said: “I really want to learn Welsh because the older I get the more I realise where you come from is really important.
“So as a Welshman I think it’s important for me to learn ‘the lingo’ so it will be part of my identity wherever I am in the world.”
Joining Matt will be:
- Lembit Öpik, former Liberal Democrat MP for Montgomeryshire.
- Melanie Walters, actress originally from Swansea, best known for her role as Gwen in the comedy series Gavin and Stacey.
- Helen Lederer, comedy actress and author, originally from Llandovery.
- Rhys Hutchings, from Newport and a member of hip hop group Goldie Lookin’ chain.
- Sophie Evans, singer from Tonypandy, who is sharing the role of Dorothy in the West End’s Wizard of Oz.
- Colin Charvis, former Wales rugby captain and British and Irish Lions player.
- Josie d’Arby, TV presenter and actress from Newport.
Presenter Nia Parry said: “The celebrity line-up is a very colourful, dynamic mix of well-known personalities. They all have their own personal reasons for learning Welsh but I can assure you they will be keen and highly competitive which should make for interesting viewing. I can’t wait to get started.”
The eight learners will spend the week-long linguistic challenge at the fforest Camp in Cilgerran, Pembrokeshire, and will tweet and blog about their progress. Viewers can also keep-up-to-date with them via webcasts on s4c.co.uk
cariad@iaith:love4language begins on Friday July 8 at 8.25pm on S4C