YOUR NEW SERIES Y GOLAU IS THRILLING, WAS IT AN ENJOYABLE PROJECT TO BE A PART OF?
Y Golau - 'The Light In The Hall' - has been one of my career highlights. I loved every single moment, even though it's also been one of the hardest things I've had to do. Pleasure and pain mixed up together. Wales is a wonderful place to work. I've worked there a lot anyway, in the English language, but Welsh language TV is quite special.
CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER SHARON?
Sharon is an emotionally driven individual. She spent 15 years emotionally raging, grieving, weeping and screaming about the fact the convicted murderer will not say where the body of her daughter is. I think she surprises herself, in the fact that she has no more respectable boundaries. She is so rageful that she has to take things into her own hands.
DID YOU HAVE TO LEARN BOTH ENGLISH AND WELSH VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPT?
Yes, we were shooting the programme in both English and Welsh. So you're kind of complicating it a little bit further, because you've got an English language version in your head and a Welsh language version. So, I'd learned my line, but what came back at me was a Welsh actor speaking their own language, speaking their emotional truth.
WHAT WERE YOUR FIRST THOUGHTS WHEN IT CAME TO TAKING ON A WELSH SPEAKING ROLE?
When I was asked to do this, I initially thought, 'Oh, my God, this is an incredible honour to be asked to act in Welsh' - a kind of dream I've had since I was a child. I did lots of drama at school in a Welsh language environment, but I was never a Welsh speaker. However, when we actually got going, I was useless at it. Completely hopeless and pathetic. My niece came down to stay with me and she just drilled me. She's North Walian, and that's where my character's from.
DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF A WELSH SPEAKER NOW?
I started to eavesdrop on things, so it got a lot better. But there were times when I'd have to sit there with the stinging humiliation of public failure, because I would say things that were so wrong, and so laughably ridiculous. They were very polite. They never did laugh at me.
DID YOU TAKE ANYTHING AWAY FROM THIS PROJECT ON A PERSONAL LEVEL?
It's a very important piece of television because it talks about the way our memories and our prejudices can misguide us - from the truth, looking at ourselves, and from our own responsibilities. A lot of the people in this story are wrong about what they think is the truth. And that, I think, chimes for me in real life. You can [have] some kind of self-righteous idea [of how] you remember events, but actually, when they're examined, they're not correct. And you need to go outside of your own subjective feelings to find the truth.
IT'S ALSO A TIMELY PROJECT, ISN'T IT?
It's a very timely and important piece of drama, because one woman is killed every three days in the United Kingdom. The impact on their families and loved ones is huge. So, I think it's a very important story to talk about - and the consequences of murder, how we look at the truth, and where we find the truth.
::Y Golau airs on S4C from May 15 and will also be available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
