A retired engineer from Flintshire has described his new-found fame on the Welsh equivalent of Gogglebox as the ‘stuff of dreams’.

Panto performer Huw Williams, from Mynydd Isa, near Mold, said he couldn’t believe his luck when he secured a place on S4C’s Gogglebocs Cymru - alongside brothers Stephen, 57, and Mike, 64 – describing the experience as the best of his life.

S4C commissioned independent production firms Cwmni Da and Chwarel, both based in North Wales, to co-produce the first ever Welsh language version of Channel 4’s and Studio Lambert’s top-rated format in the autumn.

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The inaugural show was broadcast in the first week of November with the new series hitting screens tomorrow, on Wednesday, January 4, after the celebrity special on December 28.

The brothers, who grew up in Brynaman, Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, are avid fans of the British reality show and wasted no time replying to an advert calling on friends and families to try out for the Welsh language version.

Former British Coal engineer Huw, 62, who has appeared on Emmerdale as a vicar since first trying his hand as a TV extra a year ago, said audiences had already warmed to the trio’s brotherly banter – so much so that he’s now being recognised in the most unusual of places!

“Just this morning I was in the doctors and half-naked when the doctor said in Welsh ‘I’ve seen you on Gogglebocs’! I couldn’t believe it!” admitted Huw.

Huw, who has three daughters aged 27, 24 and 22, was born in Brynaman and worked for British Coal for 18 years before moving to North Wales in 1989 to work on a pilot plant changing coal into oil.

He has appeared in panto for Northop Presents for the last 16 years – most recently last month as Minnie Thesa, a fairy, in Beauty and the Beast.

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The Williams brothers love nothing better than a game of golf and are football mad with Huw a Wrexham fan, Mike a Cardiff supporter and Stephen a Swansea fan. 

“We have a great rapport and are very close,” said Huw.

Welsh language learner Marcus Whitfield, who was born and brought up in Buckley, in Flintshire, also appears on the show with friend and fellow learner Vicki Edmunds, 71, from Bridgend, South Wales.

The Leader: Marcus and VickiMarcus and Vicki (Image: Ceidiog)

The 51-year-old runs a project offering learners weekend experiences to immerse themselves in the Welsh language and culture in addition to a Facebook group for Welsh learners with 9,000 followers.

“One of the reasons I wanted to do this was to represent the people who are learning Welsh,” said Marcus, who now lives in Rochester, Kent, and owns a business supplying hair products to hairdressers as well as a B&B in Great Yarmouth called The Hotel of Wizardry.

“There are people out there like us who could get by in Welsh and are now speaking fluently on TV in a show like Gogglebocs – we thought that would be positive for the Welsh learners.”

Speaking of his co-star, he added: “Vicki’s a very bubbly character. For me, she’s the nan that everyone deserves. She has a big family who all think the world of her.

“For the first couple of weeks on the show we’d be sounding off and as soon as the day was over, we’d think ‘we shouldn’t have said that’. Now we roll up, say our piece, and don’t worry about it anymore!”