It's not often a child sees a character from their imagination come to life. But that's exactly what happened to one lucky winner, who won a competition to create a new character for one of Cyw's most popular series, Deian a Loli.
The competition encouraged viewers of Cyw, S4C's service for pre-schoolers, to create a character for a programme in the new series of Deian a Loli, which starts on Wednesday, 25 October on S4C. There were many entries, but only one winner – Gwern Elis from Llandwrog, Gwynedd, and his character Llŷr y Lleidr Llyfrau Bach (Llŷr the Little Book Thief).
Gwern is a year 5 pupil at Ysgol Llandwrog. He had quite a shock to hear he'd won the competition. He said, "My sister Leusa was watching Cyw in the living room, and she shouted for Mum and me so we ran in and saw that I had won the competition. I had a big shock so Mum rewound the programme so we could watch the announcement again! I was very excited when I heard I had won."
Gwern was inspired to create Llŷr y Lleidr Llyfrau Bach after hearing a story in school about a milk thief. The alliteration of the Welsh name for a milk thief ("Lleidr Llaeth") made Gwern think of other alliterations, and as he enjoys reading and going to the library, a book thief (in Welsh – "Lleidr Llyfrau") fitted the bill!
After choosing a winner, the production company started the process of bringing the character to life and writing a script for the programme. As part of the prize, Gwern went on set to meet Deian and Loli, and of course his character, Llŷr y Lleidr Llyfrau Bach.
Gwern said, "It was a great experience going on the Deian a Loli set – I had lunch with the cast and crew, and worked the clapper-board on set! The character Llŷr y Lleidr Llyfrau Bach is very similar to how I imagined him - the company have gone to a lot of effort. The coat is exactly the same as my picture – with the marks, patches and everything!"
A screening of the special episode, Deian a Loli a'r Llyfrgell (Deian and Loli and the Library), as well as another episode from the new series, Deian a Loli a'r Cwmwl Coll (Deian and Loli and the Lost Cloud), will be held in Pontio, Bangor, on Thursday, 19 October. Tickets to two screenings sold out in a few hours, so a third screening was organised and every ticket for this also sold out in no time; bringing the total number of tickets to 600.
A question and answer session will follow one of the screenings with actors Moi Hallam (Deian) and Loli (Erin Gwilym), with director Martin Thomas asking the questions.
Earlier in October, Deian a Loli won a BAFTA Cymru award for the Children's Programme category. S4C's young viewers can watch the new series on TV or on the Cyw website.
Deian a Loli
Wednesday 25 October 7.00, S4C
English subtitles available
Available on demand at s4c.cymru, BBC iPlayer and other platforms
A Cwmni Da production for S4C
