‘Integral’ South Shore Cardiff base secures BBC Matt Willis series

“We had to keep moving office because we were outgrowing the space,” laughs South Shore Wales chief Sam Grace. “Long may it continue.”

Since the ITV Studios-backed company was set up in 2019, founders Melanie Leach and Andrew Mackenzie have insisted that “having a proper footprint in Wales was something very important to them”, according to Grace. Indeed, the head of South Shore Wales asserts it was “integral to setting up” the label.

London-headquartered indies setting up out-of-London hubs often concerns nations and regions (N&R) producers because of the issue of ‘brass-plating’ – the setting up of satellite offices to exploit PSB N&R quotas, which then leads to little production activity. But Grace insists this could not be further from reality for South Shore Wales.

He points to the hub’s latest commissioning win: three-part BBC series Matt Willis: The Recovery Project.

Starring the Love is Blind presenter and former popstar, the BBC Factual Entertainment and Events and BBC Cymru Wales commission will be broadcast on the BBC, BBC Cymru and iPlayer, and hopes to revolutionise the way the UK thinks about addiction, recovery and rehabilitation.

Having openly battled with drug and alcohol addiction for over a decade, Willis will embark on a personal journey to develop an ambitious new pilot scheme designed to help give those in recovery a second chance to find meaningful employment.

Willis will travel to communities in South Wales facing the highest number of deaths from drug and alcohol misuse in the country, working with substance charities to explore how employment, purpose and community can play a vital role in rebuilding lives.

Willis said he has “wanted to do a project like this for a long time.”

The series was ordered by BBC head of commissioning for factual entertainment and events Catherine Catton and head of commissioning for BBC Cymru Wales Nick Andrews. Ricky Cooper and Sian Harris are the commissioning editors. 

Catton said: “When you meet Matt, you see how deeply committed he is to helping others through recovery, and – through his own experiences – shining a light on the brutal reality of addiction.

“It’s a real privilege to follow Matt as he tries to bring this unique project to life, aiming to transform the lives of recovering addicts while trying to create something with genuine legacy - not just for those involved, but hopefully a framework that could be adopted across the UK.”

Grace will exec produce the series for South Shore alongside Mackenzie and Naomi Templeton. The programme has received support from the Welsh Government via Creative Wales.

“We’re based in South Wales and it’s important to do something locally,” Grace explains. “[But as a local producer] you don’t just want to make a traditional programme about clichéd stereotypes on Welsh identity. The series is also representative of a wider drug issue across the UK.”

And it’s not only The Recovery Project that South Shore Wales is behind.

The hub secured the competitive tender to produce twelve episodes of DIY SOS for BBC1 last year. 

“We’re really lucky that we have a number of projects on the go at the moment,” Grace says, also noting globe-trotting Channel 4 reality competition series Worlds Apart.

“And our success is in offering fantastic opportunities for the local communities.”

He estimates South Shore has between 50 and 80 people working across those productions, with the “vast majority being regional”.

“What we’re proving and aspiring to show is that you don’t have to be in London to make a high-profile, high-quality show” Grace explains.

Both he and South Shore Wales’ head of production Cath Tudor have moved back to Cardiff after lengthy careers in the English capital.

Grace admits there was some “trepidation” about moving back and having the same production opportunities.

“What I’ve found is that there is a [strong] talent base here, and if given the opportunity we will seize that.”

Despite having “worked on big productions before,” Tudor, who oversaw DIY SOS with Grace, notes “nothing quite prepares you” for the classic iconic renovation format.

The sheer scale of volunteers giving up their time and the projects being undertaken, Tudor says, “makes it stand out from any other production”.

When it came to securing the DIY SOS tender, Grace said: “We were determined to make it out of South Wales and make it a nations production.

“We wanted to protect everything that was so good about the series while updating and modernising the storytelling a little bit to show the full scale of what is done.”

He says this meant highlighting every time the team take on a task there is no guarantee it will be completed. “To do what they do in 8-9 days is a ridiculous ask, it has a more documentary feel, showing the true portrayal of how stressful it can be,” he continues.

The series instils an enormous sense of pride for the duo, who say: “We’ve got a five-year track record of being in Wales, and are making programmes like this with a vision of embracing authenticity.”

National health

Reflecting on how the turbulent TV economy has impacted Wales in particular, Tudor acknowledges “it’s been tough for a few years” and N&R supplier have “definitely been hit by it”.

“But it feels like the wheels are moving a bit more now,” she adds. “It was refreshing when South Shore came here and really did employ regionally.”

The Cardiff and Bristol area now has what Tudor calls “a great freelance pool” that allows people to not have to relocate. Grace adds there are “opportunities in each stage of the career” and South Shore is bringing new people into the industry, working closely with talent development initiatives like Factual Fast Track, Think Bigger and the Channel 4 accelerator.

“Nobody can deny the industry is challenging,” he says. “It’s more competitive and changing a lot, but we’re still very much in the game and still creating great talent and telly outside of London.”