A POPULAR television drama written by a local resident will appear for a third and final series later this year on S4C and early next year on BBC One Wales.
Keeping Faith/Un Bore Mercher, written by Matthew Hall, who lives at Welsh Newton, near Ross-on-Wye, has been a hit for both channels.
Audiences can now look forward to another thrilling series with Eve Myles set to return as lawyer Faith Howells, Bradley Freegard as Evan Howells and Mark Lewis Jones as Steve Baldini.
Olivier award-winning Celia Imrie (whose best-known roles include Victoria Wood as Seen on TV, Dinnerladies and Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) will also be joining the cast.
Filmed in both Welsh and English, the new series will air in October 2020 on the Welsh-language channel S4C, with the English-language version shown on BBC One Wales from February 2021 and across the BBC on iPlayer.
Filming for the third and final series is set to begin this week in Laugharne in Carmarthenshire.
Series 1 and 2 of Keeping Faith have been hugely successful on BBC iPlayer, with over 33 million requests to date.
The first episode of the series, telling the story of small town solicitor Faith Howells investigating the mystery surrounding her missing husband, was the fifth biggest programme of the year on the on-demand service.
The viewing figures of the first and second series of Un Bore Mercher were also amongst the highest for an S4C drama since 2010.
Faith’s trademark yellow coat even became a hit with viewers and had its own spoof Twitter account.
The show won three Bafta Cymru awards in 2018, with Myles winning best actress for her role as Faith.
Amanda Rees, S4C Director of ConteNick Andrews, head of commissioning at BBC Wales, added: “Keeping Faith is a fantastic show and I’m delighted that it will return for a third series.”
The huge success of Keeping Faith was politically important for BBC Wales, at a time when it was lobbying for additional investment from bosses in London to spend on Welsh dramas that it said would also appeal to audiences around the UK.