'I'm so proud to be from the Valleys. It's got a distinctive culture, a distinctive accent and hard-working, honest people'

Merthyr Tydfil-born actor Jonny Owen, husband of Line of Duty and Trigger Point star Vicky McClure, reflects on his extremely varied career and how he owes it all to his upbringing in the Valleys. Jonathon Hill reports

- Jonathon Hill reports

WHEN Merthyr Tydfil-born actor Jonny Owen set out in the world of TV and film he was quickly told to get rid of his Valleys accent.

But the 54-year-old, who grew up in the small village of Heolgerrig alongside his huge family who lived within a few hundred yards of each other, wasn’t having any of it.

"I was under pressure from my agent to lose my accent and I just really didn’t want to," he tells the Western Mail from his London home which he shares with wife, actor Vicky McClure. “It's called received pronunciation, isn’t it? It was all the rage in the television and acting world.

"When I worked for HTV (ITV) in Cardiff I remember the head of news at the time saying I was one of the only ones that had a Welsh accent and yet most of their audience did.

“It was odd, really. I love accents and I’m really glad times have changed now and actors and people on the telly are actually encouraged to keep theirs. It’s about representation.

“It was genuinely important to me that I kept mine - one because I'm really proud of where I’m from but also because if I'd gone back to Merthyr and there was even a hint I'd started to lose my accent my mates would have been on me.

“You are sculpted by what you grow up with and the people you grow up with and I'm so proud to be from the Valleys. It’s got a distinctive culture, a distinctive accent and hardworking, honest people.”

It didn’t get in the way. He's gone on to have a brilliantly successful acting career starring in the likes of Shameless, Murphy’s Law and My Family, and now does so many different things he’s irritatingly difficult to prepare to interview.

He's just signed a new contract to continue presenting his football show on Talksport, he’s created his own new production company with Vicky, he's into his eighth year on the board at Nottingham Forest, and his and Vicky's daytime clubbing idea which started as a bit of a laugh has taken off.