C'mon Midffîld!

C'mon Midffîld!
Opening credits
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Mei Jones Alun Ffred Jones
Starring	John Pierce Jones Mei Jones Llion Williams Bryn Fôn Siân Wheldon Gwenno Hodgkins
Country of origin	Wales
No. of series	5
No. of episodes	31 (+2 specials)
Production
Running time	30–90 minutes (inc. adverts)
Original release
Network	S4C
Release	18 November 1988 (1988-11-18) – 22 October 1994 (1994-10-22)
Release	25 December 2004 (2004-12-25)

C'mon Midffîld! is a Welsh television comedy series broadcast on S4C. Created by Mei Jones and Alun Ffred Jones, the show started life on BBC Radio Cymru in 1982 before being adapted for the screen by Ffilmiau’r Nant in 1988. It quickly became the most popular comedy series on S4C and led to various spin-offs including a stage play¹ and a two-part 'Top 40 Moments' programme.²

The show won a BAFTA Cymru for Best Drama Series in 1992, and despite coming to an end in 1994 is still repeated regularly on S4C.³

The show mainly revolves around the misadventures of Bryncoch United, a fictional village football team, which is based on Bont Football Club, a club based in the village of Pontrhydfendigaid (for which creator Alun Ffred Jones was a player). At the core of each episode are the activities of the team's committee: short tempered manager Arthur Picton, dim-witted linesman Wali Tomos, and down-to-earth captain Tecwyn Parri. Rounding off the main cast is Mr Picton's daughter Sandra and her leather-clad boyfriend (later husband) George Huws, who also serves as the team's star player.

Most plots derive from the team's weekly football matches, community events, and trips away; all of which usually result in some form of misadventure. Recurring jokes included Wali's intolerance of his mother, Tecwyn's constantly angry wife Jean, and the fact that Arthur's (first) wife, Elsi, was largely an unseen character. One of the show's main story arcs was Mr Picton's disgust towards his daughter's relationship, and his ongoing struggle to accept George as a son-in-law.

Later episodes expanded stories to include the families of established characters and dramatic plots more prominently, such as the birth of Sandra and George's twins in 1992, the introduction of Arthur's brother in the 1993 Christmas Special, Wali's struggle when his mother is admitted to a care home in 1994, and the death of Arthur's wife and his eventual second marriage in 1994.

After a 10-year absence, C'mon Midffîld returned for a feature-length special on Christmas Day 2004 reuniting the main cast and featuring a second cameo by Welsh football hero Mark Hughes.⁵ The plot saw Sandra fall into a coma, prompting the rest of the original team (joined by George and Sandra’s children) to set off to Azerbaijan to fulfill her dream of helping an orphanage there.⁶

The special was nominated for Best Film at the 2005 BAFTA Cymru awards.⁷

Despite many of its members not featuring as named characters, Bryncoch FC's lineup was largely consistent for most of the series. It included Bryn Fôn as Tecwyn Parri (the team's Captain), Llion Williams as George Huws, Alan Williams as John Bocsar, Rhys Richards as Harri Pritchard, Mal Lloyd as Graham, John Hammond as Bryn Bwr Dwr, Geraint Eifion, David Owen, Huw Charles, Gerald Craig, Geraint Williams and Mel Fôn. Dewi Rhys also portrayed striker Bryan Fawr in two episodes.

At the Urdd National Eisteddfod in Nantlle Valley, 1990, the team played a charity football match against characters from Wales' longest-running soap opera, Pobol y Cwm in an event dubbed Brwydr Fawr Maes Dulyn. ⁸