A second season of the 2018 landmark documentary series The Wall, exploring “the human impact of borders and divisions around the world” and narrated by Matthew Rhys in its international version, was unveiled on Thursday, marking “the first tri-nation co-production between the three Celtic-language broadcasters.”
The four episodes, each an hour long, are a joint production for Welsh-language free-to-air public broadcast TV channel S4C, Irish free-to-air public service TV network TG4, and MG Alba, which co-owns the Scottish Gaelic-language free-to-air channel BBC Alba with the BBC. MG Alba joins the show, whose first season was a collaboration of S4C, TG4 and South Korean broadcaster SBS/JTV.
Produced by Welsh indie Rondo Media, in partnership with Irish producer Rosg and Scottish Gaelic producer Hamish Macleod, the second season of The Wall is supported by the Welsh government via Creative Wales and distributed internationally by Cineflix Rights.
“Filmed across four continents, the series takes viewers to the Finnish-Russian border, São Paulo in Brazil, Vietnam and the Spain-Morocco frontier in Ceuta, exploring how walls and borders shape the lives of communities living on either side,” according to a description of the series. “Across four films, the series explores stories of identity, migration and reconciliation, meeting individuals living in the shadow of physical and invisible walls, from heavily fortified borders to divisions created by wealth, history and conflict. The series examines how communities navigate these divides, while also highlighting the extraordinary lengths people go to bridge them.”
Each commissioning broadcaster will be supplied with its own language version, with presenters working across Welsh (Y Wal), Irish (An Balla) and Scottish Gaelic (Am Balla). An international version will be narrated by Rhys, who also voiced the first season. The other presenters are Lisa Jên Brown for S4C in Wales, Sile Nic Chonaonaigh for TG4 in Ireland and Ramsay MacMahon for MG Alba in Scotland. The Wall season 2 will debut on April 7 on S4C.
Commissioned by Llinos Wynne (S4C), Proinsias Ní Gráinne (TG4) and Margaret Cameron (MG ALBA), the project reflects the “growing collaboration between Celtic broadcasters and demonstrates how minority-language networks can work together to deliver ambitious international storytelling,” the partners said.
Llinos Wynne, head of documentaries and factual at S4C, said: “This collaboration between S4C, TG4 and MG ALBA demonstrates what can be achieved when Celtic broadcasters work together. By pooling creative talent and resources, we can tell ambitious global stories while celebrating our shared cultural heritage.” Added Proinsias Ní Ghráinne, commissioning editor at TG4: “Projects like this show the strength of collaboration between broadcasters working in minority languages. Series 1 was a hit on TG4 and was distributed to over 100 territories worldwide. The Wall [season 2] is another powerful series that reflects both local perspectives and global realities.”
And Margaret Cameron, director of content at MG ALBA, offered: “Working with our partners in Wales and Ireland has created a genuinely collaborative production that highlights the strength of Celtic-language storytelling on the international stage. It’s a series that speaks to our times.”
The production was filmed simultaneously in multiple language versions, with presenters and crews working together throughout the shoot, comparing languages, discovering shared Celtic roots and forging what the production team describes as “one extended Celtic family telling urgent global stories together.”
