0_towy5jpeg.jpg (Image: Richard Youle)
ITV’s latest drama Out There shows the horrors of drug dealing and how the illegal trade impacts communities.
Starring Martin Clunes as Welsh farmer Nathan Williams, the show delves into his worries about the future of his farm and the local community due to encroaching development agents.
Nathan’s teenage son Johnny (Louis Ashbourne Serkis) rekindles a friendship with an old mate turned drug dealer Rhys (Gerran Howell), who draws him into the murky world of drug trafficking.
Nathan finds himself trying to protect his son and neighbours from drugs and stuck in a difficult situation.
Based in Wales, the series used different locations in Wales for filming.
Llangattock farms situated near Crickhowell in Bannau Brycheiniog, and those in Llyswen, close to Brecon served as film locations.
The small town location was made up of various areas but mainly featured Llandovery in Carmarthenshire. The large town and city location was Newport, Trefil near Merthyr Tydfil, Port Talbot, Swansea, Cardiff and Bettws near Bridgend.
0_llangattockJPG.jpg (Image: Elizabeth Gomm/Flickr/All Creative Commons)
Additionally, certain scenes included areas near Bettws in Bridgend. Interior filming occurred at Cardiff’s Dragon Studios.
Sharing his experience of filming in Wales, Martin said: “I really enjoyed filming in Wales. The locations were beautiful. I like being on a farm and being in the countryside. I was in my element.”
The drama was shot and filmed in different parts of Wales (Image: ITV)
Martin delved into the gritty subject of county lines crime depicted in the drama, where his character’s son becomes entangled in the perilous drug trade.
He explained: “Marc Evans, the director, had this thought that where it is in Wales is kind of borderland, and so much of it is about boundaries, and borders, and encroachment, and threat, and it is all sort of tied in together.
“But county lines is very much a nationwide problem. The way we are telling it, those issues come up.”
Carly-Sophia, who portrays Sadie Simpson in the series, hails from Port Talbot and reflected on her experience filming in familiar territory.
She said: “It was great to see Port Talbot in a different way and to see different parts of it, and parts of my own country that I hadn’t seen, and have a new relationship with the place I grew up in.
“The house which Sadie and Rhys live in is very close to where I grew up, literally round the corner from my old .
“The chip shop in the chip shop scene is the one I used to go to on my lunch break from school.
“The pub we filmed in was where I had my prom. You have memories in all these places. It was a really special experience.”