James Bond - an invitation from Ceredigion
This week's argument over the Welsh Government’s po-faced banning of the filming of the next James Bond film in the Senedd in Cardiff Bay brings to mind a similar debate in Ceredigion Council.
When the first series of Hinterland/Y Gwyll was being planned in 2012, the programme's producers asked if they could use Aberystwyth’s ‘Swyddfa’r Sir’, still known by many as the old Queens Hotel, a prominent large building then owned by the Council next to the Promenade. The department responsible gave the then default answer of ‘No’, presumably stemming from a similar mindset to that of the Welsh Government officials.
However this was just after the local government elections and Plaid Cymru’s Ellen ap Gwynn had become Council Leader only a week or two before. A long-time champion of the arts, on hearing about the refusal she quickly called a meeting and had the decision reversed.
The result is that the building has now been seen around the world as the police station base for DCI Tom Mathias and his colleagues as they puzzle over the murderous secrets lurking in the brooding landscapes of North Ceredigion.
