''The Bench'' is a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

television legal drama series, co-created by Matthew Robinson and lead writer Catherine Treganna, that first broadcast on

BBC One Wales BBC One Wales is a Welsh television channel owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales. It is the Welsh variation of the UK-wide BBC One and is broadcast from Central Square in Cardiff. BBC One Wales broadcasts around three hours of non-news program ...

from 17 October 2001. The English-language series follows the daily lives of a group of the prosecutors and defenders of a busy magistrates court, including long suffering Des Davies (

Mark Lewis Jones Mark Lewis Jones (born 31 August, 1964) is a Welsh actor, whose roles include that of a First Order Captain Moden Canady in '' Star Wars: The Last Jedi'', a police inspector in BBC drama series '' 55 Degrees North'', a whaler in the film '' Ma ...

) and young whippersnapper Ranjit Singh (

Phaldut Sharma Phaldut "Paul" Sharma, also known as Paul Sharma, is a UK-based actor and dancer. He is best known for his roles in Gavin and Stacey as Achmed and Eastenders as AJ Ahmed . Career Television and film Sharma played Vinnay Ramdas in ''Casualty'' a ...

). Two series of the programme were broadcast, having been filmed back-to-back during the summer of 2001. The series was initially broadcast at 8:30pm on Fridays on

, before being repeated in their entirety an afternoon slot nationwide on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

from 27 May 2002. A late night repeat on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

followed in June 2008. The series won three

BAFTA Cymru BAFTA Cymru (or BAFTA in Wales or WAFTA) is the Welsh branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and was founded in 1987.

awards in 2003, with Eiry Thomas winning Best Actress, Bill Broomfield winning Best Director of Photography for a drama series and Will Oswald winning Best Editor. Neither series has been released on DVD, but in 2020, both were released in their entirety on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

under a deal with

Acorn TV The acorn, or oaknut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'' and '' Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains one seed (occasionally two seeds), enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne ...

, making them available in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

for the first time.

Cast

as Des Davies *

as Ranjit Singh * Eiry Thomas as Cheryl Cates * Eluned Jones as Val Sullivan *

Philip McGough Philip McGough is a British actor with many appearances on UK television and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Personal life In an interview with The Mirror in 2001, McGough revealed he had trained as a monk between the ages of 14 ...

as Peter Mansell * Clive Willbond-Hill as Colin Francis * Roger Evans as Hugh Evans * Brian Hibbard as Ralph Jenkins *

Lesley Vickerage Lesley Francesca Vickerage is an English actress best known for her roles as WPC Jenny Dean in the television series '' Between the Lines'', as Lieutenant (later Captain) Kate Butler in ''Soldier Soldier'', as Helen Lynley in the television seri ...

as Katharine Tyrell * Anita Reynolds as Nita Jones * Martin Cole as Wayne Hayward * Rachel Isaac as Ange Collins *

Siwan Morris Siwan Morris is a Welsh actress from Glynneath. Morris has appeared in various parts for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Morris' television roles have included Angie in series 1 and 2 of the teen comedy-drama series '' Skins'' (2007–2008), Ceri ...

as Leanne Phillips

Episodes

Series 1 (2001)

Series 2 (2002)

Notes

References

My name should be Bond

WalesOnline Media Wales Ltd. is a publishing company based in Cardiff, Wales. As of 2009 it was owned by Reach plc (formerly known as the Trinity Mirror Group). It was previously known as the Western Mail & Echo Ltd. History The ''Western Mail'' was fo ...

interview with Martin Cole.
Dennis and Joan celebrating roles in Spielberg blockbuster

interview with Dennis and Joan Williams.

External links

The Bench

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

programme page.
The Bench
on

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bench Welsh television shows British drama television series 2000s Welsh television series 2001 British television series debuts 2004 British television series endings 2000s British drama television series