TONIGHT (Monday, February 19) sees the start of Michael Sheen’s new drama The Way on BBC One at 9pm, partly filmed in Monmouth’s Agincourt Square and Church Street Old Quarter last May.  

The Hollywood actor - star of films like Frost/Nixon, The Damned United and The Queen – both directs and acts in the drama, alongside Luke Evans, Callum Scott Howells, Steffan Rhodri and Mali Harries.

Crumbs! It’s Michael Sheen in Monmouth’s Thurabread Bakery. Photo@ Thurabread.

Co-created by screenwriter James Graham and filmmaker Adam Curtis, The Way imagines a civil uprising that grips the nation, starting in a small industrial town, drawing inspiration from the “social and political chaos” of the modern world, telling its thrilling story from the perspective of one particular family.

The Driscolls consider themselves ordinary people, but they are soon swept up in truly extraordinary events, as dangerous civil unrest forces them to flee the country they have always called home.

The synopsis asks: “Will they be overwhelmed by their memories of the past, or will the Driscolls lay their ghosts to rest and take the risk of an unknown future?”

The series, which is also available on iPlayer, is described as an “emotional and darkly humorous” story in which one family will be faced with impossible choices.

Sheen said: “I’m such an admirer of Adam and James’s work, so to create this project with them in these extraordinary times has been thrilling.

“I’m so excited to be telling this global story through the prism of my hometown and its community as we dig into the rollercoaster ride of our recent past and the mysterious depths that lay beneath.”

Also filmed in Michael’s home town of Port Talbot, the drama echoes the Tata steelworks threatened loss of 2,000 jobs, with footage of clashes with riot police.

Sheen said: "We had no idea when we were developing the story what would be happening at the steelworks when this came out.

"It's incredibly unfortunate that the story we've written has come bizarrely very close to the truth."

Prior to the fiming in Monmouth, which took several days, Sheen popped in for a pasty at Monmouth bakery Thurabread when scouting locations and happily posed for a pic for delighted staff.

The business posted at the time: “Michael Sheen popped in today to grab a bit of lunch, a real gent!!”

A poster added: “Saw him walking through Swan Court eating his pasty.”

“Legend!!! Top actor and top human!” one posted in response.