Putting Welsh film, games and TV in the spotlight

The Welsh film, games and TV industry is going from strength to strength. Hardly surprising given, as new BAFTA Cymru chair Lee Walters points out, “Wales has always had a great history in terms of storytelling.”

Recently we have seen call outs for pitches, specifically from Welsh indies, and announcements of continuing creative funding commitments in Wales as well as an exciting night of celebrations at the 2025 BAFTA Cymru Awards, where shows like Lost Boys and Fairies – which had five wins – showed bilingual content can have broad appeal. We caught up with Walters to talk about the importance of Welsh content…

So, tell us about what makes the Welsh film, games and TV industry so special…

“Wales has always had a great history in terms of storytelling – you know from a rich kind of literary tradition. I think there’s a lot of innovation in today’s film, television game industries – and that’s the result of a huge amount of work in recent years.

“In terms of increasing skills across the sector, there’s been considerable investment into innovation in research and development for creative industries. It’s allowed creative companies to think differently and to work differently, and I think that’s really helped. And I also do think that in terms of Wales there is quite a lot of collaboration and creativity between different organisations, different teams.

“I think we’re seeing companies as well who work across disciplines… So, I think that cross pollination helps to create a vibrant, resilient ecosystem that allows us to punch above our weight.”

And how do the BAFTA Cymru community play into this?

“Well, I just think that the BAFTA Cymru members are an extraordinary group and it’s a real mix of established voices within the sector – within and outside Wales – and emerging talent as well.

“In my experience, they share a real commitment to lifting up everyone around them, and I think what’s exciting about that is the potential to connect to that community even more so.”

Let’s talk about Lost Boys and Fairies, and how exciting it was to see a bilingual programme have such impact…

“I think what was just one of the great things with Lost Boys and Fairies in terms of the language is that I think for anyone who lives in Wales, whether they’re first language, Welsh speaker, whether they learned a bit of it in school, whether they’ve moved to Wales, you know what you will notice is that it’s a very natural part of people’s day. You might just hear a bit of Welsh here, spoken between some people and then it might be English with someone else. So, the fact that it was captured in a drama at 9pm on BBC – I think really for so many people who are Welsh or live in Wales it reflected how the language is used. And I think for me that was really exciting.

“Digital spaces as well probably create those opportunities too for people to work and produce content in a very natural way. So much in the same way they would talk to friends and so their use of language.”

Looking to the future, what do you think new opportunities specifically being ring fenced for Wales will mean for the sector long term?

“I think it’s a little bit of it’s in the detail and making sure that it is genuinely Welsh companies who get the opportunity to feed into this work. But I have to say it is obviously a real signal of confidence in the creative capacity of Wales.

“When we’re talking about new digital projects , I think these opportunities in particular create pathways for new voices, particularly those outside established production centres. Who are working perhaps in different ways to traditional independent TV.

“In the short term they mean work, and in the long term they mean visibility for those creators. I guess you know what we could hope to see is that this will help nurture a generation of Welsh creators who can tell distinctive stories with a global reach. I think that’s one of the key things with digital, that you’re not kind of necessarily creating for an audience that watches linear TV at a certain time. You are creating content that could be viewed right across the world by different audiences, and I think there’s something quite exciting about that.

“I think the more commissioners look to Wales. I think the more we can diversify the stories that are being told and the people telling them.”