14 September 2016

S4C Director of Content, Dafydd Rhys has paid tribute to the prolific and productive author Gareth F Williams, describing him as an "instinctive author and storyteller".

The dramatist and novelist died at 61 years of age after a brave battle with cancer.

Gareth was brought up in Porthmadog, Gwynedd and had lived in Beddau, near Pontypridd, for many years. He was the prolific storyteller and scriptwriter, and created numerous TV series' and stage dramas over the past 25 years.

Among his work were numerous popular drama series for S4C. He was one of the scriptwriters for the weekly drama Pengelli, author of the series Pen Tennyn and he also played a role in establishing the soap Rownd a Rownd, which has recently celebrated its 21st birthday.

Among his other work for S4C is the chilling drama series for young people, Jara, the gripping film Sion a Siân and in more recent years, the TV drama Lan a Lawr.

Dafydd Rhys says, "Gareth F Williams produced an astonishingly varied range of dramas, as an author and a scriptwriter. Central to his work was his instinctive ability to recognise and produce gripping stories. He understood people and had a good ear for dialogue. His wide experiences meant he was comfortable dealing with challenging topics in his work, but he never lost sight of the fact that the most important thing was to entertain by creating memorable characters and situations. His death is a huge loss to the world of TV, drama and literature."

A tribute to Gareth F Williams is included in Heno on S4C at 7.00pm on Wednesday 14 September.

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