Legendary singer Tom Jones, operatic superstar Katherine Jenkins, "Voice of an Angel" Charlotte Church, Over The Rainbow star Sophie Evans and actors Michael Sheen, Matthew Rhys and Ioan Gruffudd were among the star-studded line-up who took part in the hour-long TV adaptation of Dylan Thomas' famous 1954 radio drama.
The stars signed up for the BBC Cymru Wales production to become part of Valleywood's centenary celebrations for the Swansea-born poet, marking 100 years since he was born. (Pic below is Sophie Evans. Please read on after pic. Thank you.)
The production crew overcame the logistical nightmare of assembling such a world-famous cast onto one stage by getting them to read their parts separately at different locations around the globe, and cutting them into a coherent narrative. The cast didn't wear any costumes or use any props to bring to life the colourful characters of the fictional fishing village Llareggub (Buggerall backwards). Clucker's just like Llareggub; there's bugger all here as well. The cast appeared as themselves in modern dress and simply acted their parts, linking up to each other through laptops and mobile phones.
Valleywood acting royalty, Michael Sheen, 45, born in Newport and raised in Port Talbot, kicked off the production as First Voice reading the famous lines: "To begin at the beginning: It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black, the cobblestreets silent and the hunched, courters'-and-rabbits' wood limping invisible down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboatbobbing sea."
Silver-haired Tom Jones,73, from Treforest, appeared as Captain Cat, the blind sea captain, who is tormented in his dreams by his drowned shipmates. Tom turned his hand to acting well, and recited his lines from a penthouse appartment in London while looking out of a window overlooking the Houses of Parliament.
Mr Fantastic Ioan Gruffudd, 40, from Llwydcoed near Aberdare, played Mr Mog Edwards, the draper enamoured wiith Myfanwy Price, played by 28-year-old Cranford star Kimberley Nixon from Pontypridd.
Charlotte Church, 28, from Llandaff, Cardiff, made a star turn as Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard, who sat nagging her dead husbands through her laptop in a farmhouse kitchen.
Katherine Jenkins, 33, from Neath, looked longingly out through a window as floor scrubber Polly Garter and sang hauntingly about her three lost loves.
And Sophie Evans, 21, from Tonypandy, who is dating Cardiff Blues rugby star Ellis Jenkins, teamed up with Gavin & Stacey star Melanie Walters to give a bright performance of two gossiping neighbours. Incidentally, Sophie Evans, watched her boyfriend battle it out for Cardiff Blues against Scarlets at a wind-swept, chilly Parc y Scarlets in Llanelli yesterday. Sophie looked on the positive side of things when Ellis suffered a head injury.
She told her Twitter followers: "Good outcome of my boy being knocked out in rugby - nice new scar to make him a bit better looking."
Ellis himself released pictures of his nasty head injuries on his Twitter account this morning. One photo showed a deep bleeding gash on the crown of his head while a second photo showed a cut on the side of his forehead. He told his followers: "Ended the season as I started it. Thanks for all the messages." His hashtag was headlikeapatchworkquilt.
Anyway, back to Under Milk Wood. Bryn Terfel, bass-baritone opera singer, 48, from Pant Glas, also made an appearance as The Reverend Eli Jenkins.
The executive producer Bethan Jones told Wales Online: "We asked Tom Jones to do Captain Cat and we were really thrilled when he said yes, it was the icing on the cake. He’s fabulous and there’s a real humour. We also asked Bryn Terfel to do Eli Jenkins. The reverend delivers the beautiful Sunset Poem which I know Bryn has sung in the past so it was a no brainer to ask him to do it.”
She added: "It’s almost like a no frills version which is really concentrating on the text. There’s a real sense of love and enjoyment in the words. There are some beautiful performances. The cameras are very close up to the actors so they are delivering the words straight to you. You’re hearing sections of text you almost didn’t know existed.”
The Clucker watched Under Milk Wood on the BBC iplayer but it looks like there's only one day left to catch up on it, so you better ruddy hurry up if you want to see this team up of Valleywood superstars! Maybe it'll appear on Youtube before long.
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