FILM star Michael Sheen popped in for a pasty at a Monmouth bakery last Friday and happily posed for a pic for delighted staff.
The Newport-born actor has been scouting locations for a new BBC Wales drama he is directing, and was making a return visit to the town’s historic Old Quarter when he called in to Thurabread Bakery in Church Street.
The business posted: “Michael Sheen popped in today to grab a bit of lunch, a real gent!!”
A poster added: “Saw him walking through Swan Court eating his pasty.”
“Legend!!! Top actor and top human!” one posted in response.
Michael - star of films like Frost/Nixon, The Damned United and The Queen – is set to direct a three-part drama to be filmed in Wales later this year, co-created by screenwriter James Graham and filmmaker Adam Curtis.
The Way imagines a civil uprising that grips the nation, starting in a small industrial town, drawing inspiration from the “social and political chaos” of the modern world, telling its thrilling story from the perspective of one particular family.
The Driscolls consider themselves ordinary people, but they are soon swept up in truly extraordinary events, as dangerous civil unrest forces them to flee the country they have always called home.
The synopsis asks: “Will they be overwhelmed by their memories of the past, or will the Driscolls lay their ghosts to rest and take the risk of an unknown future?”
The series, which is co-created by Sheen with writers James Graham (Sherwood) and Adam Curtis (HyperNormalisation), is described as an “emotional and darkly humorous” story in which one family will be faced with impossible choices.
Sheen said: “I’m such an admirer of Adam and James’s work, so to create this project with them in these extraordinary times has been thrilling.
“I’m so excited to be telling this global story through the prism of my hometown and its community as we dig into the rollercoaster ride of our recent past and the mysterious depths that lay beneath.”
Graham commented: “Working with Michael Sheen and Adam Curtis on building this story has been one of those ‘pinch-me’ moments in the life of a writer.”