Welsh-language drama Byw Celwydd (Living A Lie) set to add new pep to politics with intrigue and corruption

The Welsh Assembly might not yet have a reputation for sleaze, betrayal and ruthless ambition to rival London’s “Palace of Sexminster” but a new television drama is set to add new pep to politics west of the Severn Bridge.

An epic eight-part series of intrigue and corruption opens with the ruling coalition thrown into chaos by the death of a party leader in a Cardiff hotel room after a session with a prostitute. For fans of heavy Scandinavian sub-titled drama, the Welsh-language Byw Celwydd (Living A Lie) might be their new fix.

The popularity in Britain of shows such as The Killing, Borgen, The Bridge and Wallender has proved that subtitles are no obstacle to success if the storylines and acting are strong enough, and has created an unprecedented opportunity for Welsh-language channel S4C.

The broadcaster will be hoping the show finds an audience beyond Welsh speakers and Byw Celwydd’s strong cast includes Matthew Gravelle, who played Joe Miller in the hit ITV drama Broadchurch.

Welsh politicians seem strangely keen to co-operate and allowed filming in many parts of the Senedd, the Assembly’s Richard Rogers-designed home. The James Bond film, Spectre, was reportedly refused permission to film in the building.

Unsurprisingly, Byw Celwydd, which opens on Sunday 3 January at 9pm, carries a prominent disclaimer: “This is a work of fiction. People, parties and events are fictitious.”

In the S4C series, Labour become “The Socialists”, Plaid Cymru are “The Nationalists”, the Liberal Democrats are simply “The Democrats” and the Tories are “The New Conservatives”.

But the drama, which used the former Plaid assembly member Nerys Evans as a consultant, seeks to give a realistic impression of the political tensions in Cardiff Bay, where the current Labour government of 30 members is matched by a combined Conservative, Plaid and LibDem opposition of 30 members.

What viewers in other parts of the United Kingdom may find strangely parochial – though possibly compelling – is the supposed intimacy of the Cardiff political world. Star character Angharad Wynne (played by Cath Ayers) is a political journalist and the daughter-in-law of the First Minister, Meirion Llywelyn, who she is simultaneously investigating and rubbing shoulders with at family parties.

“It’s difficult for Angharad to differentiate between her personal life and her professional duties,” said Ayers. “On the one hand she’s an ambitious journalist and, on the other, she’s a wife and mother and she finds it difficult to balance the two.”

Meanwhile, the Democrat leader, played by Mark Lewis Jones, is challenged for his job by his own wife, played by Eiry Thomas, who in turn employs a special adviser who is married to a journalist who works with Angharad and spies on his wife’s mobile phone. “A husband and wife going for the same job, that story’s up there with the Miliband brothers,” he says of this melange.

Despite the disclaimers, it’s tempting to think that Gravelle’s character, Harri James, a political spin doctor who returns to Wales from abroad, may have been partly-inspired by Guto Harri, the high-powered Welsh-speaking London PR man and former spinner for Boris Johnson.

By coincidence, the BBC yesterday announced that its own new media and political drama, Press, will also be made in Cardiff, although the action is set in London.

Byw Celwydd, which touches on several current Welsh political issues including controversial land deals and hospital provision, is being shown ahead of the upcoming 2016 Welsh Assembly elections.

The show was created by producer Branwen Cennard, playwright Meic Povey, and writer Sian Naomi. The team have said they were not trying to create a “Welsh Borgen” but that they want the story to have a realistic context.

According to Ayers, “filming at the Welsh Assembly was a fantastic experience and gives the series more status as well as adding a fantastic visual element”.