A jet black stallion that starred in The Crown is to take centre stage in a new Welsh TV thriller featuring a Game of Thrones actor who was inspired by his teacher. Wrexham-born Mark Lewis Jones, who also appeared alongside Russell Crowe in Robin Hood, said her intervention “changed my life”.
Mark, originally from Rhos, is currently filming Dal y Mellt (Catching the Lightning) at Bryn Ifan farm, near Clynnog, on the Llŷn Peninsula. The S4C drama has been hailed as a Welsh cross between “Lock, Stock” and “The Italian Job” – with a horse.
Between takes, Mark paid tribute to his former drama teacher, Gwawr Mason, who passed away in 2020. It was her inspiration while he was a pupil at Ysgol Morgan Llwyd, in Wrexham, that ignited his ambition to become a professional actor.
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Some 40 years ago she asked him to be in a school play, Culhwch and Olwen. It was to lead to a stellar career on film, television and on stage, including a spell with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Mark said he can still vividly remember the moment she approached him. “For some reason, I agreed,” he said. “I had no interest in acting prior to that and no one in my family had ever gone into the arts.
“That moment changed my life. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for all the help she gave to people like me and working class families around Rhos and Wrexham. She helped very many of us, not just me.
“She was a very special woman. She had a lot of influence over us as young people at the time.”
Dal y Mellt is based on the contemporary thriller novel of the same name, written by Iwan “Iwcs” Roberts, from Trawsfynydd. It’s set in rural Meirionnydd, Cardiff and Soho in London, and will be shown on S4C later this year.
In the series, Mark plays a shady character called Mici Ffin, who runs a garage and suffers from PTSD. Starring alongside him is a stallion called Chief, around whom the plot largely revolves. He’s a nine-year-old Friesian horse whose real name is Odysseus, named after the hero of Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey.
“The horse is like another character in the series,” said Mark. “He’s pretty spectacular and that’s important because the character’s important and a big part of the story.”
(Image: Mandy Jones)
The spectacular stallion will be familiar to millions of viewers from Nexflix hit The Crown and films like Mary Queen of Scots.
He was supplied by Dolbadarn Film Horses, which was based in Llanberis for many years but which has now relocated to Abergele.
Horse master Dylan Jones, who runs the company, said Welsh film productions were a nice antidote to the big studio films he’s been involved with such as Warhorse and Game of Thrones. To move Chief between locations, Corwen-based Ifor Williams Trailers provided him with a “gold standard” HBX horsebox.
Dylan said: “Dal y Mellt is going to be a fantastic series and I enjoyed working with them 100%. It’s been a lot of fun. Chief has a central role in the series and I’m pleased we’re using a HBX from Ifor Williams Trailers.”
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Also in the cast is veteran actor Dyfan Roberts, originally from Rhydymain but now living in Llanrug. He plays an embittered widower called Gronw, the father of Chief’s owner Antonia.
He said: “Although it’s a crime thriller, there’s also a lot of humour. The characters are warm and very Welsh. It’s like a cross between the Guy Ritchie film, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and the Michael Caine classic, The Italian Job, with a Welsh twist.”
(Image: Mandy Jones)
Another cast member is young Anglesey actor Gwïon Morris Jones, who has a starring role as Carbo. He describes him as a James Dean-type character who’s on the run from “bad people”.
For the role he’s had to do his own stunts and has had some “amazing experiences”. “I’ve been fighting, driving fast cars and hung upside down from a crane!” he said.
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Responsibility for bringing Dal y Mellt to life lay with Llyr Morus, whose CV includes producing Keeping Faith and Pobol y Cwm. He bought the TV rights even before the novel was published
He said: “Iwcs sent me a copy of the manuscript and I read it in one sitting of four hours. It was really gripping so I rang him straight away and told him it was fantastic.”
The six-part series is being made by Cardiff-based Vox Pictures. It will be shown on S4C this autumn.
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