Wilf

Richard Humphries

Eryl

Sgt Craig Gilmore

Sgt Craig Gilmore & PC Luke Ashton

Mr Monksby

Glynn the vicar

Mr Burrows

Dave Perrin

Within weeks of graduating from LAMDA in 1993, Hywel had a job.  He was cast as Wilf Granelli, a roughneck, on a North Sea oil rig, Osprey Explorer, in the First Choice/BBC co-production "Roughnecks" written by Kieran Prendiville.  A host of future household names were with him; Bruce Jones, Ricky Tomlinson, Paul Copley, James Cosmo, plus a man who Hywel would be working with in a future TV series, George Rossi.

Filming in the notoriously rough North Sea brought it's own problems for all the cast and for Hywel there was the additional one of being regularly fleeced at poker whilst living on the rig! 

Filming the helicopter crash scene in a huge outdoor tank behind Bray studios was actually done on his birthday.   Being a typical English winter's early morning, it wasn't the pleasantest of experiences.  Despite multiple layers of clothing and tin foil next to the skin it was still cold.  As Hywel himself says,

"...the coldest night of my life.  And we were filming at four in the morning when you're at your lowest ebb."

Despite the discomfort Hywel reckons he was incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to work on such an enjoyable series as this as his first professional acting engagement.

A full guide to all the Roughnecks episodes can be found here .

Strangely enough, his next role on television in 1994 was playing a roughneck, called Mr Vagney - this time in an episode of The Bill called "Fallen Angel".

In 1998 he was back again in The Bill, on the right side of the law this time, as a river policemen.

The year after, he appeared in a spoof series, "People Like Us", in an episode called "The Airline Pilot", playing a character called Richard Humphries.

The programme was filmed in the same manner as a documentary or 'fly on the wall' series, supposedly about  the working life of various parts of society.  "People Like Us" gave us a fine display of Hywel’s true comedic talents and the first indication of how great he looks in uniform!

That same year the programme won the Royal Television Society award for Best Situation Comedy/Comedy Drama; the Silver Rose for Comedy at the Montreux Light Entertainment Festival and was nominated for a BATFA TV award for Best Comedy (Programme or Series)

Christmas of 1999 saw him in "Flint Street Nativity",  as a shepherd called Eryl, with Dervla Kirwen, Neil Morrissey, Stephen Tompkinson and Jane Horrocks.  Flint Street Nativity by Tom Firth, is a comedy drama wherein the adults all play seven year olds (and their parents) trying to battle their way through a school nativity play.

"Flint Street Nativity" won the Welsh BAFTA 2000 for Best Design (Hayden Pearce)

2000 and  Hywel was appearing in two more television presentations; "Score" written by Jason Sutton and directed by Andy DeEmmony, a made for television film about a football team who win the lottery, he plays a character called Martin and a Channel 4/Hat Trick production of "The Wilsons" by Bernadette Davis.  Only six episodes of this series were made.

2001 saw Hywel back in The Bill, this time as a regular cast member, Sergeant Craig Gilmore and again working with George Rossi.

Hywel played Sgt Craig Gilmore over a period of two years (2001-2003)in this popular long running TV series, during which  the show metamorphosised from a serious police drama to a less serious TV soap opera. The episodes featuring the Gilmore character are currently being repeated on UK Gold and ABC Australia.

The varied and often complex story lines offered Hywel, the newcomer, the opportunity to see him fist fighting other coppers, babysitting a colleague’s grand-daughter, playing soccer, nicking people for whom jail is too good and offering a serious and respectful interpretation of a gay man carving a career in a metropolitan police station in the less nice parts of London.

In August 2002 The Bill was the subject hundreds of complaints about  a gay kiss between Sergeant Gilmore and one of his subordinates. The complaint was not upheld by the Independent Television Commission.

 You can read about this complaint, and the outcome, on the Guardian’s free archive:  (“ITV cleared over gay kiss on The Bill”, Oct 14 2002.)

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,810378,00.html

 And you don’t need us tell you that the role of Sgt Gilmore makes up the closing argument for how good Hywel looks in uniform.

In 2003, Hywel joined his real-life partner, Sarah Tansey, in an episode of "Heartbeat" called "State of Mind" as a very dodgy solicitor, Mr Monksby, who has some rather strange accounting practises.

October/November 2004 you can see Hywel playing Glyn, a gay Welsh vicar in two episodes of series 2 of the BAFTA Award winning comedy series, "Little Britain."

Hywel has also filmed an episode of "Casualty" at the end of August 2004.  He plays a character called Mr Burrows in an episode called "Love Bites" due for transmission on December 4th 2004. 

Hywel made a cameo appearance in BBC 2's new comedy series, "Hyperdrive" which is being transmitted starting January 2006.  Look out for him playing "a drunken Commander" in episode 6 season 1, "Assessment".

Hywel's next appearance on television was as guest lead role, Dave Perrin in an episode of "Doctors" entitled "Away Day".  This was originally transmitted in May 2006.

Hywel will be playing Dr Lawes in a BBC1 drama to be shown December 3rd 2006 2006 called Casualty 1906.

Eros Unleashed, with Hywel playing Roddy, begins transmission on December 1st 2006 on ITV Wales.  No news as yet if this will be screened on all ITV regions in future.

Hywel will be reprising his role of Dr Lawes in three of the forthcoming series of five episodes of Casualty 1907.  He will be filming these in August and September 2007.

We’re relying on the kindness of television programmers to see the rest of his work. If you hear that any of the more elusive of these titles is hitting the airwaves, let us know!

Please note:  More photocaptures from these programs can be seen in the Galleries