Hannah Thomas, Series Producer, Mudtown (Ar y Ffin) explains how the crime drama, shot back to back in both English and Welsh, came to fruition.
Produced by Severn Screen, the series airs on S4C and on UKTV’s crime drama channel, Alibi. Ar y Ffin / Mudtown centres around life at Newport’s Magistrates Court. This drama is written by new writing duo Hannah Daniel (star of Keeping Faith, Holby City) and Georgia Lee, who also works as a part-time magistrate.
Hannah Thomas, Series Producer
When writers Hannah Daniel and Georgia Lee first came into Severn Screen to pitch Mudtown, there was so much to love straight away — a female-led drama with a gritty crime backdrop, set in Newport. It had heart, atmosphere, and a real sense of place. We commissioned a first episode on the spot and began the journey together.
Hannah and Georgia are a brilliant writing duo. Friends since university, they now live in different cities, Hannah in Cardiff, Georgia in London, but their train journeys to visit each other took them right through Newport. Looking out over the city’s mudflats sparked something. Newport isn’t often seen on screen in its own right, and we knew it could look cinematic. At Severn Screen, we’re passionate about showing as much of Wales as possible, so it felt like the perfect fit.
Before long, we had a finished script for episode one and the start of a six-part story following Claire Lewis Jones, a respected local magistrate whose past is about to catch up with her in devastating ways.
From there, development moved quickly. We had strong early support from S4C’s Gwenllian Gravelle, who backed us with development funding. All3Media International’s David Swetman and Lauren Jackson were also early champions. Then Helen Perry at UKTV came on board after reading the scripts and responding to them straight away. With that, the project came together at pace.
The quality and authenticity of the scripts played a huge part. Georgia is a young magistrate herself, so she brought a rare insight into the world Claire inhabits. That first-hand knowledge added real depth and truth.
Casting Claire was our starting point. We were lucky to work with Erin Richards — a fantastic Welsh actress who’d been working in the US and was excited to return home. She was perfect. For Saint Pete, the local gangster from Claire’s past, we had Tom Cullen in mind from the beginning. He brings such emotional weight to his performances, and the fact that he and Erin have been friends since their teens brought an instant chemistry to their scenes.
From there, we built a strong ensemble with a mix of familiar faces and exciting new talent. Lauren Morais, who plays Claire’s daughter Becca, consistently brought something surprising to every take. Lloyd Meredith and Dom Francis shone too, alongside Matthew Gravelle, Kimberley Nixon, Matthew Aubrey, Ifan Huw Dafydd and Alexandria Riley.
We began filming in April 2024 with Rhys Carter as Lead Director, working closely with DOP Sam Thomas to set the tone and style. Chris Forster directed the second block.
Newport and its surrounding areas gave us a wealth of striking locations, thanks to local authorities and the community’s generosity. Long term Severn Screen collaborator, Location Manager Paul ‘Bach’ Davies, unearthed so many unexpected gems.
The opening warehouse fire was one of our most challenging and rewarding sequences. We filmed across three locations, then built into a single dramatic scene in post with VFX company Troll in Finland, who we’ve worked with on Havoc, Mr. Burton and Steeltown Murders. It really launches our show with a bang.
Courtroom days were always a highlight. We filmed in a real but decommissioned court, which our design team, led by Gerwyn Lloyd, transformed with wood panelling and other details to restore the authority and polish of a working court.
The series was shot back-to-back in Welsh and English. The Welsh-language version premiered on S4C in December 2024, and the English version lands on U&alibi on 20 August 2025. Shooting bilingually is a challenge — we film shot-by-shot, flipping languages and the actors adapt with astonishing ease. Even when the lines mean the same thing, the slight differences in each language bring unique nuances to each version.
It takes about a third more time to shoot this way, and we run two versions of the script at once. After our 12-week shoot wrapped in August 2024, Cinematic in Cardiff handled the dual edit at an incredible pace to deliver to S4C in December and UKTV in January.
Mudtown was made with a huge amount of energy, collaboration, and joy. It felt like we were all working together towards something that mattered. I hope viewers feel that same energy on screen.
Mudtown premieres Wednesdays at 9pm from 20 August on U&alibi, or you can watch all episodes on demand on Sky, NOW, and Virgin Media. All3Media International handle distribution outside the UK.
Staff Reporter
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