Browse content similar to 18/04/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Wales's biggest housebuilder hit out at the Welsh government after it | :00:10. | :00:20. | |
:00:20. | :00:26. | ||
Also tonight. Round-the-clock support for | :00:26. | :00:33. | |
terminally ill patients. A promise of better care. | :00:33. | :00:35. | |
Parents and pupils find out Cwmcarn Comprehensive could reopen in | :00:36. | :00:45. | |
:00:46. | :00:47. | ||
September after an asbestos scare. We are so happy that it is opening | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
back up again. Calls for better protection for our | :00:51. | :00:54. | |
trees after one of the oldest oaks in Britain is brought down by strong | :00:54. | :00:59. | |
winds. And the �20 million Hollywood drama | :00:59. | :01:06. | |
filmed in South Wales. We're on the red carpet at its UK premiere in | :01:06. | :01:13. | |
The directors of Redrow have told Wales Today they're disturbed that | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
the Welsh Government has scrapped a scheme designed to help people buy | :01:16. | :01:21. | |
homes. Wales' biggest house-builders say they've invested time and money | :01:21. | :01:26. | |
in the plan and feel they've been treated in a shabby way. Caroline | :01:26. | :01:36. | |
:01:36. | :01:38. | ||
Evans reports. The scheme was meant to help people | :01:38. | :01:47. | |
like Ian. 49 and divorced, he is looking to get back on the housing | :01:48. | :01:53. | |
ladder but a deposit of 20 % is out of the question. He was pinning his | :01:53. | :01:57. | |
hopes on the scheme which offered a chance to secure a home with around | :01:57. | :02:03. | |
a five % deposit. This scheme was a great opportunity for me to get back | :02:03. | :02:09. | |
as a first-time buyer. A �5,000 deposit would have been affordable | :02:09. | :02:14. | |
to me but sadly �20,000 is not feasible. The scheme was due to | :02:14. | :02:19. | |
start in June. The Welsh government said the housing industry has | :02:19. | :02:21. | |
withdrawn support after similar plans were announced by the UK | :02:22. | :02:28. | |
government. Since the UK government made its announcement, there have | :02:28. | :02:34. | |
been doubts whether the scheme can continue so we are reviewing that. | :02:34. | :02:38. | |
But today, Wales's biggest housebuilder said they could not | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
believe it is not going ahead as promised. They have already started | :02:41. | :02:49. | |
training staff and have booked a radio advertising campaign. Shocked | :02:49. | :02:53. | |
and very saddened to receive the news. The Welsh government want to | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
drop the initiative. They have actually said developers will not | :02:57. | :03:05. | |
support it. They did not support -- talk to read no -- Redrow and we | :03:05. | :03:12. | |
would like to see it reinstated. this estate agent, they believe they | :03:12. | :03:18. | |
will have to be a rethink. market is improving and it is time | :03:18. | :03:24. | |
another initiative is announced, sooner rather than later. The scheme | :03:24. | :03:27. | |
was agreed as a deal with the Liberal Democrats to get the budget | :03:27. | :03:33. | |
approved. People in Wales have not had the same advantages as the | :03:33. | :03:43. | |
:03:43. | :03:44. | ||
people in England in terms of having helped as a first-time buyer. That | :03:44. | :03:46. | |
is one of the reasons why house-building in Wales is so | :03:46. | :03:54. | |
repressed. The housebuilders were going to put around �27 million into | :03:54. | :03:59. | |
the scheme. They say they are still committed to the scheme but they are | :03:59. | :04:04. | |
now exploring what they can put in place to Welsh -- help Welsh | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
homebuyers until the scheme comes into force. | :04:07. | :04:09. | |
People with incurable illnesses should have access to | :04:09. | :04:12. | |
round-the-clock support and the best possible care leading up to their | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
deaths. That's one of the commitments of a new plan by the | :04:15. | :04:19. | |
Welsh Government. It also says patients should be fully supported | :04:19. | :04:22. | |
if they choose to die at home. Our health correspondent, Owain Clarke, | :04:22. | :04:28. | |
reports. Since Ken Fletcher from North Wales | :04:28. | :04:32. | |
was diagnosed with an into rubble condition, he values every second he | :04:32. | :04:39. | |
has with his wife. He needs constant care, but he's determined, given the | :04:39. | :04:45. | |
right support, to stay at home until the end. Whatever happens, yes. We | :04:45. | :04:53. | |
don't want to be separated. I don't see the point of going to a nursing | :04:53. | :05:00. | |
home if I can carry on at home. Wales's biggest residential hospice | :05:00. | :05:04. | |
run by Murray Durie in Penarth, medical staff give round-the-clock | :05:04. | :05:10. | |
care to 30 patients at any one time who are dying. But the plan says a | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
similar level of cake should be available across Wales for those | :05:14. | :05:18. | |
people who do not want to spend their last days at a hospice like | :05:18. | :05:25. | |
this one but would prefer to be at home with their families. Something | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
like 70 % of people in Wales would prefer to die at home. At the | :05:31. | :05:37. | |
moment, something like 65 % of people die in hospital. And to | :05:37. | :05:42. | |
deliver that, the plan launched in Bridgend today pledges that the NHS | :05:42. | :05:45. | |
social services and charities will work together to provide good end of | :05:45. | :05:55. | |
:05:55. | :05:56. | ||
life care in the community. What these services bring to the table is | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
the message of the plan. Then there is the message about working more | :06:00. | :06:05. | |
closely together. Today was a very good example but there is more we | :06:05. | :06:11. | |
can do and there is more we need to do. Few questioned the aims but some | :06:11. | :06:14. | |
doubt how achievable they are at a time when budgets are being severely | :06:14. | :06:24. | |
squeezed. This plan is worse nothing -- worth nothing if it is not backed | :06:24. | :06:33. | |
up. I am very concerned that we don't have the hospice at home | :06:33. | :06:38. | |
movement in some parts of the country that is available in others. | :06:38. | :06:42. | |
The Health Minister admits that in an age of austerity, delivering | :06:42. | :06:47. | |
services will be a challenge, but a lack of resources should not detract | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
from the aim of delivering the best possible care for individuals like | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
Ken Fletcher. Joining me now is Baroness Ilora | :06:53. | :06:59. | |
Finlay, an expert in end of life care. We have talked about this on a | :06:59. | :07:03. | |
number of occasions. Do you think this plan is going to make a | :07:03. | :07:08. | |
difference? I do, because this is building on what we have already | :07:09. | :07:15. | |
done. We have a network across Wales of seven-day specialist palliative | :07:15. | :07:23. | |
care nurses. We also have 20 47 advice available from consultants to | :07:23. | :07:29. | |
other healthcare professionals if they have a patient with this rest. | :07:29. | :07:35. | |
-- distressed. But the other thing we have got to remember is that bad | :07:35. | :07:41. | |
care costs more than good care. We want to join up the pieces of the | :07:41. | :07:46. | |
jigsaw puzzle, get social care, healthcare and the voluntary sector, | :07:46. | :07:49. | |
and it becomes more efficient, and it meets the needs of the | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
individual. We want people to have the conversation early, to talk | :07:54. | :07:58. | |
about where they want to be looked after, what they want and what they | :07:58. | :08:04. | |
don't want to happen, talk about their fears. Normally those fears | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
can be allayed, but talk about where they want to be because that is the | :08:08. | :08:13. | |
way we can give them the care they want. It is not necessarily an easy | :08:14. | :08:19. | |
conversation to have. Funding is very tight, isn't it? Why should | :08:19. | :08:27. | |
this be a priority? When somebody dies, the way they die lives on in | :08:27. | :08:32. | |
the memory of those left behind. If children are being bereaved, they | :08:32. | :08:38. | |
will carry that memory for the whole of their lives. They need support if | :08:38. | :08:42. | |
they are facing losing someone they love. It is a huge investment and it | :08:42. | :08:48. | |
is like preventative medicine. If we get the dining rights, the next | :08:49. | :08:55. | |
generation will cope better. -- the dying right. | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
The number of cases of measles in the epidemic centred in the Swansea | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
area has increased to more than 800. Officials say 43 new cases have been | :09:02. | :09:06. | |
reported in the last 48 hours. Public health officials say they've | :09:06. | :09:09. | |
been disappointed at the uptake of MMR jabs being offered at schools in | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
Swansea and Neath Port Talbot. Sessions at schools in Cardiff and | :09:13. | :09:17. | |
Powys will start in the coming weeks. | :09:17. | :09:19. | |
Cwmcarn High School pupils could be returning to their old classrooms | :09:19. | :09:23. | |
this September. Councillors have unanimously approved a million | :09:23. | :09:26. | |
pounds worth of work to treat asbestos at the site. It was closed | :09:26. | :09:29. | |
six months ago after a report said the asbestos posed a potential | :09:29. | :09:35. | |
health risk. Pupils are currently being taught 12 miles away. Jordan | :09:35. | :09:42. | |
Davies reports. A Champagne moment for parents | :09:42. | :09:48. | |
fighting to reopen Cwmcarn High School. They have been waiting six | :09:48. | :09:51. | |
months for this and now they will be returning to the school they call | :09:51. | :09:58. | |
home. We are so happy it is opening back-up. We can be a family again. | :09:59. | :10:07. | |
We need to come back. But why has this taken half the year to resolve? | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
Cwmcarn High School was closed last October after a report found that | :10:11. | :10:15. | |
what's best is posting health risk but in February this year, the | :10:16. | :10:20. | |
health and safety executive report said the site was essentially | :10:20. | :10:25. | |
contamination free so another report was commissioned in March. It found | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
there was little difference between the two apart from the conclusions, | :10:29. | :10:33. | |
which were profoundly different. The council believes the only safe | :10:33. | :10:40. | |
option is to remove the asbestos in time for September. This has caused | :10:40. | :10:43. | |
concern but we knew we did the right thing in gaining those reports that | :10:43. | :10:48. | |
came through, even though they were conflicting, we were not happy at | :10:48. | :10:52. | |
that point to go forward until we knew exactly what level of risk | :10:52. | :11:00. | |
there was the school. But some parents have been unhappy. Two | :11:00. | :11:02. | |
months ago they marched through Cwmcarn calling for the school to | :11:02. | :11:09. | |
reopen. Parents and pupils also attended special health clinics | :11:09. | :11:17. | |
because of concerns about potential asbestos exposure. We were at a | :11:17. | :11:20. | |
stage coming up to our January exams and it could not have been a worse | :11:20. | :11:30. | |
time. We had a lot of tears along the way. �700,000 will be spent on | :11:30. | :11:35. | |
removing the asbestos and making the building safe. 300,000 will be spent | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
on hiring temporary classrooms. Pupils could be back behind these | :11:39. | :11:44. | |
gates by September but the planned work will not upgrade the school in | :11:44. | :11:50. | |
anyway. That will be considered on the wider ongoing debate. | :11:50. | :11:53. | |
Still to come tonight. A rare collection of Welsh banknotes | :11:53. | :12:02. | |
dating back to the 18th century go under the hammer. | :12:02. | :12:08. | |
And it has stood tall for more than 1200 years but Wales's oldest oak | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
has finally been felled by last night's strong winds. | :12:12. | :12:15. | |
Farmers' unions say they're angry about a massive backlog of dead | :12:15. | :12:17. | |
animals waiting to be collected after being killed in the recent | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
snowstorms. Today, dozens of ponies in Snowdonia were buried after they | :12:21. | :12:25. | |
froze to death. Sheep farmers are also counting the cost of losing | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
their animals in the middle of the lambing season. You may find some | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
pictures in Rhodri Lewis' report disturbing. | :12:32. | :12:35. | |
A dreadful sight as 35 Carneddau ponies wait to be buried this | :12:35. | :12:40. | |
afternoon. They've lived for hundreds of years in Snowdonia and | :12:40. | :12:44. | |
have always been left to wander freely. But dozens were killed by | :12:45. | :12:47. | |
the freezing temperatures, drifts and blizzards and farmers say there | :12:47. | :12:57. | |
:12:57. | :12:59. | ||
could be more grim discoveries to come. These have just come from a | :12:59. | :13:04. | |
very small piece of this mountain. What is up there, I could not tell | :13:04. | :13:11. | |
you. There are 35 there from this little piece. How many we have lost, | :13:11. | :13:17. | |
we know it is over 50. But I am thinking it might be closer to 100. | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
Over at Glyn Ceiriog, south of Llangollen, Eryl Morris keeps more | :13:20. | :13:25. | |
than 1,000 ewes, roaming his 700 acres. He knew he'd lost 140 of them | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
already, but as the snow thaws he's now found dozens more. He'll have to | :13:29. | :13:34. | |
pay to dispose of them and says it'll take years to recover. | :13:34. | :13:40. | |
can't put a value on them because they are breeding ewes and you lose | :13:40. | :13:47. | |
the breeding. This year, I will be very surprised if I get 50 % on the | :13:47. | :13:57. | |
:13:57. | :14:01. | ||
rest of the lambing flock. A lot have aborted their lambs. We get | :14:01. | :14:06. | |
numerous calls of that nature. It shows that the problem is growing | :14:06. | :14:12. | |
rather than going away at this point in time. As the search for more | :14:12. | :14:15. | |
animals goes on, Ministers have given farmers more time to bury | :14:15. | :14:18. | |
their livestock. They've rejected calls for direct financial help, but | :14:18. | :14:28. | |
have made �500,000 available to charities working with the industry. | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
A lack of aspiration by teachers in Wales means fewer pupils here end up | :14:31. | :14:34. | |
going to top universities. That's according to the man tasked with | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
increasing the number of our children going to Oxford and | :14:37. | :14:40. | |
Cambridge. Paul Murphy told BBC Wales more pressure needs to be put | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
on schools and colleges to address the situation. | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
They are the elite, world renowned for their quality. Presidents and | :14:47. | :14:53. | |
prime ministers have studied here. So why are so few Welsh pupils | :14:53. | :14:59. | |
getting to Oxford and Cambridge? The number of pupils who get to the top | :14:59. | :15:05. | |
institutions have been falling. In 2008, 96 pupils got into Oxbridge | :15:05. | :15:09. | |
but by last year the number had fallen to 76 and according to the | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
man tasked by the Welsh government to bump up those numbers, a lack of | :15:13. | :15:20. | |
aspiration could be at fault. think it mainly teachers. When I | :15:20. | :15:25. | |
went to Oxford, the people who taught me had been to Oxford and | :15:25. | :15:29. | |
Cambridge. I am not convinced so many of our teachers have been to | :15:29. | :15:34. | |
those universities and so have less knowledge about how you get in and | :15:34. | :15:39. | |
what it is like when you get there. This pupil has been accepted to | :15:39. | :15:49. | |
:15:49. | :15:49. | ||
Cambridge. There were some schools which were all about widening | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
participation. That was good because I got to see the range of different | :15:53. | :16:02. | |
people who would be there. Paul Murphy spoke to admission directors | :16:02. | :16:04. | |
at Oxford and Cambridge last year and they said the Welsh | :16:04. | :16:11. | |
baccalaureate was part of the problem. That a pupil studying that | :16:11. | :16:15. | |
qualification and just two A-levels would be disadvantaged and could not | :16:15. | :16:20. | |
compete with English students fairly for a place. They said it was clear | :16:20. | :16:24. | |
it was not valued as appropriate academic preparation. In response, | :16:24. | :16:29. | |
the Welsh government said it is in the process of revising the Welsh | :16:29. | :16:34. | |
baccalaureate to make sure it is robust and fit for purpose. Recent | :16:34. | :16:38. | |
research shows that part of the south Wales valleys and north-east | :16:38. | :16:42. | |
Wales have the lowest application rates for Oxford and Cambridge in | :16:42. | :16:47. | |
the whole of England and Wales. Paul Murphy says the interest is there | :16:47. | :16:51. | |
and the ability is certainly there but perhaps more needs to be done to | :16:51. | :16:56. | |
harness it. Schemes like this one could help. At Gower College in | :16:56. | :16:59. | |
Swansea they have extra lessons for the brightest students who might | :16:59. | :17:05. | |
want to go to Oxford or Cambridge. You have to be able to think | :17:05. | :17:10. | |
critically. It also helps with things like writing a personal | :17:10. | :17:15. | |
statement and what they look for in applicants. It can be very | :17:15. | :17:21. | |
intimidating to apply for Oxford given it is one of the most famous | :17:21. | :17:27. | |
universities in the world. The tutorial has explained what to do. | :17:27. | :17:33. | |
Unions say they are always keen to help the brightest. We want to do | :17:33. | :17:38. | |
their best by our pupils in all circumstances. Teachers do encourage | :17:38. | :17:41. | |
pupils who they think may be able to get into Oxford or Cambridge to | :17:41. | :17:48. | |
apply. For these pupils, and Oxbridge education will offer an | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
opportunity only available to a few. But with needs to be done to make | :17:52. | :17:56. | |
sure more students with similar abilities get the same | :17:56. | :17:59. | |
opportunities. There have been calls for greater | :17:59. | :18:02. | |
protection for our ancient trees after one of the oldest oaks in | :18:02. | :18:05. | |
Britain was knocked down in strong winds. The Pontfadog Oak, near | :18:05. | :18:08. | |
Chirk, is believed to have been more than 1,200-years-old. | :18:08. | :18:09. | |
Conservationists had been campaigning to improve its | :18:09. | :18:19. | |
stability. Matthew Richards is in Pontfadog tonight. | :18:19. | :18:23. | |
It stood here during the Battle of Hastings, the birth of Shakespeare | :18:23. | :18:27. | |
and the great Fire of London, but unfortunately the heavy winds last | :18:27. | :18:33. | |
night proved too much for it to take. I spoke to the people who live | :18:33. | :18:36. | |
here and they were rudely awakened by the tree falling down just after | :18:36. | :18:41. | |
two a.m. This morning. They say it feels like the village has lost an | :18:41. | :18:46. | |
icon. Most of the people who live around | :18:46. | :18:53. | |
here know the tree. It is on the badge of the local school. People | :18:53. | :18:58. | |
say the village will never be the same. My mother-in-law is so upset, | :18:58. | :19:03. | |
she came here this morning and she was devastated. She said she feels | :19:03. | :19:10. | |
like she has lost a friend. With me now is an engine to treat | :19:10. | :19:17. | |
specialist. What is the significance of this tree? You can see from the | :19:17. | :19:25. | |
size of it, even in the situation it is at the moment, it is a massive, | :19:25. | :19:31. | |
agent oak tree, possibly one of the most agent on the planet. What was | :19:31. | :19:35. | |
your reaction when you came here this morning? A bit of devastation | :19:35. | :19:40. | |
for me. I know we have got to get things in context because people | :19:40. | :19:46. | |
have not been hurt but people have come up from the village today and I | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
can see how even more embedded in the psyche of the local area this | :19:50. | :19:58. | |
tree was. People say trees to get old and die. Is there anything you | :19:58. | :20:07. | |
can do to protect them? This has been a managed tree all its life. | :20:07. | :20:12. | |
Perhaps, given a small amount of funding, this tree could have been | :20:12. | :20:17. | |
saved from this fate. I don't think anybody could have predicted it but | :20:17. | :20:22. | |
we could have tried to do something. At the moment these trees are not | :20:22. | :20:32. | |
protected to the degree they need to be protected will stop --. It is all | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
to be decided what will happen to this incredible ancient monument. | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
A rare collection of banknotes from across Wales went under the hammer | :20:39. | :20:43. | |
today and sold for nearly �150,000. They were part of a large, private | :20:43. | :20:47. | |
collection dating back to the 18th century. The most valuable lot of | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
the day was a five pound note from Lampeter Bank, as Kate Morgan | :20:50. | :20:55. | |
explains. It's not quite the deal the makers | :20:56. | :21:00. | |
of this 18th century money had in mind. But they'd probably be pleased | :21:00. | :21:04. | |
with the price. A collection of banknotes from across Wales and the | :21:04. | :21:14. | |
UK sold at auction for a total of more than �154,000. To get an | :21:14. | :21:18. | |
auction with so many Welsh notes, good-quality notes, is quite rare. | :21:18. | :21:24. | |
You will get notes in auctions all the time, but to get such a large | :21:24. | :21:27. | |
collection is not common. They belonged to David Kirch, a | :21:27. | :21:30. | |
millionaire who's selling off 4,000 notes, including these. A seven | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
pound note from Carmarthen and a rare ten pound note from Chepstow. | :21:35. | :21:38. | |
But the star seller was a five pound note from Lampeter dating back to | :21:38. | :21:48. | |
:21:48. | :21:50. | ||
1905, going for 1,400 pounds. one is interesting because it is in | :21:50. | :21:59. | |
beautiful condition for its age and it is printed by a firm we owe so | :21:59. | :22:03. | |
much of our currency to. Back in the 18th century, it was much easier to | :22:04. | :22:07. | |
start a bank and print notes thanks mostly to a lack of regulation. | :22:07. | :22:10. | |
Anyone, anywhere could set one up. The notes could only be used in the | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
local area and made the men who signed them very rich and, in some | :22:14. | :22:23. | |
cases, very famous. They are signed by recognisable names. Mr Lloyd, Mr | :22:23. | :22:26. | |
Berkeley. These banks were taken over eventually by very recognisable | :22:26. | :22:30. | |
names. Hundreds of years on, they may have found themselves in a | :22:30. | :22:33. | |
London auction house, but staff here say many of the Welsh notes have | :22:33. | :22:37. | |
been bought by collectors here. And they may now be heading home to the | :22:37. | :22:41. | |
different corners of Wales they were made for. | :22:41. | :22:44. | |
Cricket, and an unbeaten half-century has helped Glamorgan | :22:44. | :22:49. | |
take control of their championship match against Worcestershire. | :22:49. | :22:56. | |
Glamorgan have reached 234-7. In a moment, the latest from the | :22:56. | :22:59. | |
premiere of a Hollywood blockbuster, filmed here in Wales. First though, | :22:59. | :23:09. | |
:23:09. | :23:14. | ||
The north and northwest bore the brunt of the gales last night. On | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
the Lleyn Peninsula and in Snowdonia, the wind reached storm | :23:17. | :23:24. | |
force ten with a gust of 84mph at Aberdaron. While at Hawarden in | :23:24. | :23:31. | |
Flintshire, a gust of 67mph was recorded. In the next 24 hours, the | :23:31. | :23:34. | |
brisk wind will slowly ease with a calmer day in prospect tomorrow and | :23:34. | :23:39. | |
on Saturday too. This evening may start dry, but a front will move | :23:39. | :23:45. | |
southeast, bringing a spell of rain. Breezy, but the wind easing once the | :23:45. | :23:51. | |
rain clears. Lowest temperature around five degrees Celsius. | :23:51. | :23:54. | |
Tomorrow's chart shows a front moving across Britain followed by a | :23:54. | :24:00. | |
ridge of high pressure. Here's the picture for eight in the morning. | :24:00. | :24:07. | |
Better than today. Much drier. The wind lighter as well with a moderate | :24:07. | :24:12. | |
breeze on Anglesey. Not much sunshine first thing, but that will | :24:12. | :24:17. | |
change. During the morning into the afternoon, the cloud will break and | :24:17. | :24:21. | |
it will brighten-up with increasing amounts of sunshine. Top | :24:21. | :24:26. | |
temperatures of 13 degrees Celsius. A little cooler on the north and | :24:26. | :24:33. | |
west coast with a breeze off the sea. Tomorrow night will be dry and | :24:33. | :24:36. | |
clear and with little wind it will turn quite cold with a widespread | :24:36. | :24:42. | |
ground frost. Even a slight air frost in some rural spots inland. So | :24:42. | :24:47. | |
a chilly start on Saturday but a nice day. Fine and dry with plenty | :24:47. | :24:53. | |
of sunshine. Saturday will be a good day for a trip to the seaside. | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
Temperatures not that high but feeling pleasant in the sunshine | :24:56. | :25:01. | |
with light to moderate winds. The sea still pretty cold. Seven or | :25:01. | :25:08. | |
eight degrees Celsius. Sunday will bring a change. A dry start but rain | :25:08. | :25:12. | |
will spread from the northwest during the day. The wind picking-up | :25:12. | :25:16. | |
as well. Saturday will be the best day of the weekend. Ideal weather | :25:16. | :25:26. | |
for the Spring Flower Show in The Gwyn Hall in Neath rolled out | :25:26. | :25:29. | |
its red carpet this evening for the UK premiere of a multi-million | :25:29. | :25:32. | |
dollar Hollywood drama shot entirely in South Wales. Da Vinci's Demons, | :25:32. | :25:35. | |
set in Renaissance Italy, is an eight-hour television series from | :25:35. | :25:39. | |
the writer of the Batman films. Carwyn Jones caught up with the cast | :25:39. | :25:49. | |
A year in production at a cost of around �20 million, Da Vinci's | :25:49. | :25:53. | |
Demons finally takes flight. The series turns the early life of | :25:53. | :25:57. | |
Leonardo into a swashbuckling adventure. Although it's set in 15th | :25:57. | :26:02. | |
century Florence, it was filmed in Swansea, Port Talbot and Neath. | :26:02. | :26:05. | |
That's why tonight, it was the Gwyn Hall, not London's Leicester Square, | :26:05. | :26:11. | |
which hosted the UK premiere. The creative force behind the series is | :26:11. | :26:15. | |
this man, David S Goyer. He's the Holywood screenwriter who penned the | :26:15. | :26:25. | |
movie scripts for Batman, Blade and this summer's Superman film. As an | :26:25. | :26:30. | |
American, Wales was unusual for me. We don't have castles, we don't have | :26:30. | :26:36. | |
things like abbeys or things like that. For me, Wales was very exotic. | :26:36. | :26:39. | |
The production spent most of last year transforming the landscape of | :26:39. | :26:42. | |
South Wales into Renaissance Florence. The gothic splendour of | :26:42. | :26:45. | |
Margam Castle stood in for the Medici Palace while the Duomo | :26:45. | :26:48. | |
Cathedral and Ponte Veccio Bridge were built here at the old Ford | :26:48. | :26:53. | |
factory in Swansea. In fact, the site became a fully functioning film | :26:53. | :26:56. | |
studio and, at 265,000 square feet, that's made it the biggest sound | :26:56. | :27:03. | |
stage in the UK. Bigger than even the 007 stage at Pinewood. The | :27:03. | :27:06. | |
production also created nearly 3,000 full and part time jobs, from | :27:06. | :27:16. | |
:27:16. | :27:18. | ||
craftsmen to caterers. We have got a lot of skilled personnel. We have | :27:18. | :27:21. | |
taken the training issues very seriously. I am not talking about | :27:21. | :27:26. | |
actors, I am talking about the backstage stuff. Da Vinci's Demons | :27:26. | :27:31. | |
has proved a huge hit in the US. So much so that it's just been | :27:31. | :27:35. | |
commissioned for a second series. And for Leonardo himself, that could | :27:35. | :27:43. | |
mean returning to Wales for more filming later this year. We were | :27:43. | :27:47. | |
just outside Florence for the Italian premier last week and the | :27:47. | :27:52. | |
landscape was very similar. Having been there and seen it first hand, | :27:52. | :27:56. | |
it is closer than you expect. is gaining an enviable reputation as | :27:56. | :28:04. | |
the go-to location for TV dramas. Viewers can judge just how well | :28:04. | :28:07. | |
Wales doubles for Renaissance Italy when the show hits our screens | :28:07. | :28:11. | |
tomorrow night. A reminder now of the headlines. The | :28:11. | :28:16. | |
moment a chemical plant in Texas explodes. People living nearby say | :28:16. | :28:20. | |
it was like an earthquake. At least five people have been killed and | :28:20. | :28:25. | |
hundreds could be injured. Redrow says it is disturbed by a | :28:25. | :28:29. | |
Welsh government decision to halt a scheme to help people buy homes. The | :28:29. | :28:33. | |
Welsh government says it is reviewing the scheme because a | :28:33. | :28:35. |