This post first appeared on Ren’s Patreon page.
When I first considered taking on the production of Season Two, I seriously considered basing the entire production in South Wales because of the many beautiful locations in that area. Ultimately it wasn’t practical, but going to Wales for part of the shoot was always going to happen. As I write this we are on our way back from five days of very successful filming in the Merthyr Tydfil area.
I say “days”, but we mostly filmed at night. Mostly. We needed a bridge to set a major action sequence on so Richard Roberts, the gaffer from Season One, suggested Pontygwaith a.k.a. the Works Bridge last autumn. This is a beautiful, steeply arched stone bridge over the River Taff near Treharris. It took a long time to figure out who owned it, going through various council departments and eventually writing a physical letter to the farm next door, who called me to say they did indeed own the bridge and would be very happy for us to film there. The whole family were really helpful and accommodating to us during our time there.
We shot the sequence over four nights with quite a large cast and also the prison cart which was a key part of the action. The art department, represented by Ash Finn, had to cover the modern road surface and signs, as well as dealing with all the flaming torches, while Jeremy and various helpers had a big lighting set-up to do every night. Everyone worked incredibly hard, sometimes until as late as 4:30 in the morning. To our great surprise and delight, apart from just a few spots one evening, the weather remained entirely dry, but even so it was tough on everyone being out in the cold for so long. Thanks so much to all the cast and crew for bearing it all with grace and positivity.
On Sunday we also captured some daylight scenes on and near the bridge, while Monday was all daylight scenes at a new location: Morlais Castle. This involved carrying all the gear about a third of a mile up a hill to a ruin with a very cool crypt. Oriana and Alex had a whale of a time (Wales of a time?) running around on the hillside while Jonathan Cundy shot them on his drone. Everyone had Lord of the Rings music in their heads all day! We captured the first few shots of Episode 204 as well.
We finished off with a gorgeous sunset shot on the very crest of the hill, with more than a little nod to Karate Kid, before heading out for a celebratory curry to mark the end of our trip.
Tomorrow is our last day of shooting on Episode 203, back at the studio in Cambridgeshire, and then at the weekend we embark properly on the final episode!