Welcome to British Isles Friday! British Isles Friday is a weekly event for sharing all things British and Irish — reviews, photos, opinions, trip reports, guides, links, resources, personal stories, interviews, and research posts. Join us each Friday to link your British and Irish themed content and to see what others have to share. The link list is at the bottom of this post. Pour a cup of tea or lift a pint and join our link party!

Last week, I reviewed Theeb, the film that won BAFTA’s award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer. Heather reviewed two books: Sofia Khan is Not Obliged and Too Many Cooks. Tina gave us a peek at Mind Your Manors, a book about the domestic servants’ lives with history, photos, and household tips. Jackie shared more photos from her 2005 trip to Ireland, including the dramatic landscape of the Burren. Sim brought us to Picadilly Circus in her virtual walk through London with a stop for tea at Fortnum & Mason’s.  Becky reviewed the fourth season of Lark Rise to Candleford.

I’ve been watching another British detective show — this one set in Wales. If I’m reading the Wikipedia article correctly, they actually film every scene twice — once in Welsh and once in English. The rugged west coast of Wales gets a lot of screen time and makes me want to visit.

Hinterland from the BBC

DCI Tom Mathias is morose, even by British TV detective standards, with a slowly revealed tragic past that sometimes helps and sometimes hinders his ability to do his job. His team has his back, for the most part, but it’s not quite so clear that his boss does.

Each episode ends with a mystery solved, but there are longer-arc stories going on through the two seasons. Since I’m unfamiliar with Welsh names, I haven’t kept as much track of the multi-episode stories as I would like. A third season started filming in January. I’ll probably want to watch the first two seasons over again before I watch the third one when it arrives to Netflix. Maybe a second watching will help me keep better track of the recurring characters in the town and surrounding countryside.

I’m having a hard time explaining why I got so hooked on this show. I’d normally want a bit more of something that makes me smile. But, somehow the mood of the landscape and the characters work so well together that I kept wanting to go back for a visit.

Do you have books, shows, or movies to recommend to help me grasp Welsh culture better?