I’ve had an idea… As a special service for SSiW learners, how would you like bespoke suggestions for programmes to watch on S4C? I notice that often people make general suggestions like “children’s programmes are good” or “watch drama”, but if that’s not your bag then why would you want to? Also, once programmes come off air you might not be able to find them.
So, if you put in a post telling me the sort of thing you enjoy watching (and/or your general interests) I’ll do my best to make a suggestion of something that’s available on S4C Clic at the moment that you might like.
The caveats are: I can’t promise you will like it! And programmes usually stay on Clic for up to 150 days, so you’d need to act on any suggestion fairly promptly.
If no one answers me I’ll know it was a daft idea!
Iaith ar Daith and Am Dro are probably my two favourite programmes. Things like Cynefin where you get a look at different parts of Wales. Grid is interesting as it gives an insight into different lifestyles, views etc that don’t normally get a lot of TV coverage.
I would like to see more choice in the drama section. Without checking the dates, all of the ones there at the moment seem quite recent. Is there a reason S4C can’t regularly throw in some old series or films? There must be a decent back catalogue to choose from by now.
Maybe recycle a bit more generally. Things like Am Dro aren’t going to date by nature so why not repeat previous series occasionally? 150 days seems quite a long time for programmes to be up. I even noticed one programme that ‘expires’ in 758 days! It can sometimes make it feel a bit samey if you’re someone who regularly looks at Clic for things to watch.
And make sure old programmes have subtitles available. There’s been a couple of occasions when an interesting looking old drama has gone up and yet there haven’t been subtitles available.
There is indeed - it’s all about rights. Drama is relatively expensive to re-broadcast (Equity fees, etc), and people regularly complain about the number of repeats, so strategically it makes sense to put the money into new productions rather than re-broadcasting old ones. Standard contracts are for 150 days’ streaming - any more than that and we have to pay again. We are looking at ways and means of being able to do it though!
And again, it’s a question of resources, unfortunately. There’s an emphasis on making sure that all new programmes are subtitled, with the other priority being our back-catalogue of children’s programmes (which are regularly reused, and there is a current drive to have all children’s output subtitled to help with literacy).
I’m not trying to make excuses - we do recognise the frustrations!
As far as programmes that show you different parts of Wales, other current ones to try include:
Arfordir Cymru: Llyn: Clic (doc about the coast of Pen Llŷn)
Codi Pac: Clic (focuses on things to do/visit in a particular area)
3 Lle: Clic (people discuss the three places that have been important to them in their lives)
Eryri: Pobol y Parc: Clic (doc about people working in Eryri national park)
Gerddi Cymru: Clic (Aled Sam visits and discusses important gardens in Wales)
Glannau Cymru o’r Awyr: Clic (the Wales coastline from the air)
Symud i Gymru: Clic (English people considering moving to Wales pair with locals to learn about the area, and why the Welsh language is so important to the community)
Waliau’n Siarad: Clic (series that looks into the unusual history of some of Wales’ ancient buildings)
And for insights into different lifestyles, the Drych series of one-off documentaries is great for that: Clic
I think looking into ways of getting around the issue with repeats would be useful. S4C does seem quite light compared to other ‘player’ services like the BBC and ITV in terms of showing the occasional old classic. Perhaps some negotiations need to be done. After all, the only place that will be looking to repeat much of this stuff is S4C so you’d think that would provide some leverage.
I get the issue with subtitling old programmes but it would be good to put the effort in occasionally. For example, I’m a fan of horror and a couple of times around Halloween S4C has put up stuff from the archives but with no subtitles. For anyone who isn’t pretty much fluent that means they can’t watch it.
Thanks Sara for offering to curate the S4C offerings. I would be interested in programs related to birdwatching and to short programs about cultural activities in Wales. Thanks again.
And not in Wales, but perhaps of interest is a programme about the pan-Celtic festival in
Lorient, Brittany, where lots of Welsh artists perform every year: Clic
From the Eisteddfod Cenedlaethol, there are some things that may or may not be of interest:
Mas ar y Maes (coverage of the LGBT+ strand): Clic
Maggi Noggi a Kiri ar y Maes (comedy strand with Maggi showing Welsh learner Kiri around her first Eisteddfod): Clic
Y Babell Lên (highlights from the Literature tent): Clic
Noson Lawen is a stalwart, with different performers every week: Clic
More coming soon, as well: look out for coverage of the Cerdd Dant Festival on Saturday 11 November.
And I’m not sure if it comes under your definition of “cultural”, but there is still a lot up about the Royal Welsh Show, “Y Sioe Fawr”: Clic
Bird-watching is a bit more tricky! There’s a really lovely programme (2 episodes, I think) about “Cymru Wyllt Gudd” (Hidden Wild Wales), which features a lot of bird life (as well as other wild life). For some reason I can’t find it on Clic, but it is still on iPlayer: BBC iPlayer - Cymru Wyllt Gudd
And anything you watch on Clic, at the bottom of the screen will be suggestions of other programmes the algorithm thinks you might like. Not as good as a personally curated list, perhaps but useful nonetheless?
Thank you again Sara. I woke up about 3 am this morning and started laughing at myself over my request for info about cultural activities. Rather a broad topic and thank you for your suggestions. Before we retired we had a small hobby farm outside of Calgary and we kept sheep and a few other animals. Can you recommend any program describing daily life on a farm in rural Wales? Thanks again, last request I promise.
Ooh, I think you’d love Cefn Gwlad! Here’s an episode about a family who raise Waygu beef (among other things…): Clic
Once you get sucked into the farming programmes, you could be there some time… The two main ones are Cefn Gwlad (“Countryside”) and Ffermio (“Farming”). And, of course, the Royal Welsh Show will have lots of things about country life.
Thanks Sara. More old dramas & films would be great. I really enjoyed watching Y Palmant Aur (five series - i watched once with English subtitles & the second in Welsh) & Jonni Jones (both from the '90s) & there have been some excellent newer dramas for teenagers (eg Y Goleady, Iwtopia) along with the newer adult series. Even all the various series of Amser Maith Yn Ôl, Mabinogiogi & shows like that are worth having available. The first year I started learning Welsh there were several films online but there’s only ever one or two up there now. I’ll echo previous comments about subtitling!
We sometimes get shown old snippets of Hwb (from about 2010 onwards). These include a fun cookery show with learners (who have to do their shopping & cooking in Welsh); interviews with folk like Dafydd Iwan & Bethan Gwanes; celeb learners (Cariad Iaith) - some are on YouTube but it’s hard work finding them as they aren’t even in ordered playlists & are only up there in ten minute sections. Would there be any chance of taking some of these series & putting the on there? Thanks.
Any of the programmes about language are very good (eg Popeth yn Gymraeg, Y Llarfar & the one along the border - I’ve watched all these in the last year or so but they’ve gone now) & about local areas (several mentioned above plus Pobl y Rhondda). So more like those would be welcomed.
There must be more comedy programnes in the archives. I’ve seen a few specials & stand-up shows (eg Tudur Owen, Elis James & a couple of old sketch shows). Ryan a Ronnie get mentioned fondly by some folk in my classes. Do any shows like those still exist?
Thanks a lot & I look forward to seeing what suggestions & additions you can make.
Pobol y Penwythnos is a good little series, just following three ordinary people per programme as they go about their leisure and work activities at the weekend. Quite relaxing viewing. Would like to see more of that.
Coming at this from a slightly different angle, would it be possible to flag up programmes that show how Welsh is used in different areas - maybe something like “this is a great chance to hear how people use the language in Pen Llyn” or “if you want to know how teenagers sound in Welsh, try this”. Learners are just like everyone else in that they will find different topics interesting, and others less so, but what we do have in common is an interest in the language in and of itself. So if there was a way of signposting how different programmes show different aspects of the language, I’d find that very valuable.
Wow - quite a lot here! You obviously know your way around Clic
First thing to mention is that learners love to see things from the archive, but lots of other viewers don’t (“too many repeats”). Add to that the cost and sheer difficulty of re-broadcasting things (because of the way that the contracts are structured), and we will never have enough archive material on the Clic player to satisfy our learners. However, I’m working on something whereby learners will get to see some of our archive material “for educational purposes”. I can’t give any details yet because we haven’t pinned everything down, but I promise to let you know as soon as I can! (I’m also a bit fan of Hwb - that’s what I used to watch when I was first learning.)
As far as comedy is concerned, there is an Ellis James series up at the moment: Clic
There’s also a series with Gareth the Orangutan (I love him, but not everyone’s taste…): Clic
There’s a new series of the sitcom “Jam” written by Alun Saunders on the way (not quite sure how far along that is).
Did you know as well that there’s an S4C comedy channel on YouTube? Some of the stuff is quite old, I think, but if you don’t mind that… https://www.youtube.com/@S4CComedi/videos
Great suggestion, Phil - thanks. I’ll bear that in mind when I’m drafting my monthly newsletters to learners. Which leads me on to a plug…
If you haven’t signed up to my newsletter, and you’d like some of the signposting that Phil is suggesting, please do! There’s a link in the thread here: New S4C learners' newsletter - #9 by sara-peacock-1
If anyone has a particular dialect or type of language they’d like to know more about and would like a suggestion or two, post away below
An easy way to hear different dialects etc is to watch the programmes like Cynefin which travel to different parts of the country.
When people complain about repeats BTW, are they generally talking about on TV or the player? I think the latter is where a bit more choice would be welcome.
Thanks a lot for that detailed reply Sara. I appreciate there are issues with broadcasting rights but it seems such a waste of excellent archive materials. Many of us didn’t grow up in Wales so haven’t seen any of the content before! Your comments on achieving something ‘for educational purposes’ sounds excellent & I hope it works out.
Much of the old online BBC learners’ content has disappeared with subsequent website redesigns & it seems a pity so many programmes have been ‘lost’ to all us new learners. It must be cheaper for old progs to be made available than producing ones from scratch. I know some of your output is / was linked (as some of your shows are on iPlayer too), so maybe there are some options available with them to share costs in creating some joint educational archive area?
Cheers for those links. I shall enjoy checking them out.
Ooh, and another thing - the ‘My Lists’ part of Clic doesn’t work. I originally started adding useful programmes I wanted to watch onto it but it stopped working at some point a couple of years ago (“! Sorry, we’re having trouble loading this.”). It was really handy to flag stuff as I spotted it or read about it online, so if there’s any chance of that feature being resurrected please that’d be fab. Thanks everso.
I’ve just checked the “My List” mechanism on my version of Clic, and it seems to be working fine. If it’s still not working for you, it might be something specific on your system. The best way to solve that would be to contact the Viewers’ Hotline (phone, email or web form - they all go to the same team) as they are brilliant at helping to troubleshoot anything technical. (I’m totally rubbish at anything like that! )
but useful nonetheless?