Keeping Faith

I was looking for something to watch recently. Nothing on my list really stood out, so was scrolling through things on BBC. Came across the show Keeping Faith. Three seasons. Easily one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. And the performance of Eve Myles, in her role as the titular Faith; I’ve never seen anything like it.

So let’s write about it.

The show is about Faith. A woman whose husband disappears. She’s a professional woman; a lawyer. She’s just coming to the end of maternity leave with their third child when her husband goes missing.

So the storylines all revolve around her dealing with this trauma. The unknown, the emotions, trying to figure out what happened and why. Keeping her kids together. That kind of thing. It’s set in a small town in Wales; fictional but like in any number small towns she also has to deal with the talk of the town.

But there’s just something about the character of Faith. Such a lovely, kind, generous person. Despite the trauma and pressure she is under, she is still there for everybody around her. Truly the kind of person you want in your life.

Eve plays this role to perfection. By the end of the first season I was already thinking that this is the best acting performance I’ve ever seen. A phenomenal performance.

But then season two she somehow manages to step it up another level. Honestly I did not know it was possible for a person to act this powerfully. She just absolutely blew me away. I mean like actually in awe of her.

Eve stars alongside her real-life husband Bradley Freegard - who plays the role of her character’s husband, Evan. Which is really nice.

The other characters are also brilliantly acted. I especially loved their two daughters, played by Demi Letherby and Lacey Jones; just spot on.

The show itself was filmed in Carmarthenshire, Wales, set in a fictional town near Swansea. But it was part of a trio of shows that were filmed simultaneously in both Welsh and English; in Welsh it was titled Un Bore Mercher (One Wednesday Morning), and broadcast on S4C. I had no idea such a project existed, but it’s fantastic and I hope Welsh people produce more dramas like this.

As an aside: the other two shows in this bilingual trio were called Bang, which I’ve not seen; and Hidden (titled Craith in Welsh). The latter I have seen, and it was also excellent - though I did not know at the time that it was a bilingual production too.

But there’s actually more to write about Eve Myles. Yes this is mostly just a fan piece for her because I was so affected by her performance in Keeping Faith that I had to read more about the show and her. As mentioned, it was filmed bilingual; Eve is Welsh but did not speak the language. Indeed, she initially turned down the role, because of the bilingual aspect. She learned Welsh in order to play this part; described it as the hardest challenge of her professional life. Stuff like that always amazes me. She now speaks it at home with her family. Inspirational.

I’ve seen Eve in some other shows. The Guest, on BBC, which I enjoyed a lot; recognising her face from that show on the cover image of Keeping Faith is what prompted me to watch this. She was also in Coldwater, and has a new show on ITV, Gone, which I’m looking forward to watching soon (didn’t jump right into it to avoid merging her characters in my head). She was also the lead female role in Torchwood, though I never really got into that show. Oh, and she voiced Merrill in Dragon Age II.

Keeping Faith was the most popular show on BBC Wales for more than a quarter of a century, and has had more than 50 million views on BBC. It also won three Welsh BAFTAs (best actress for Eve, best writer, and original music - and yes the music was also fantastic, powerful, hit the mood perfectly; really good stuff).

This was a fantastic show, incredibly well made, with some amazing performances - and Eve Myles as Faith is beyond anything I’ve seen before. A really special show.