// BBC ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS — MODA & SOCIETÀ
Hollywood actor Luke Evans on 'joyous' four months filming in rainy Wales
Actor Luke Evans plays journalist Martin Gilmour in a new ITV drama
Hollywood actor Luke Evans said filming just 25 minutes from his childhood home was "joyous" - and some family members even made a cameo in the final episode of his new drama.
The Pontypool-born star, who is also an executive producer of the five-part series, The Party, came up with the idea to adapt the acclaimed novel by Elizabeth Day into a drama for the screen.
For the first time in 30 years, Evans was able to film close to Aberbargoed, Caerphilly county, where he grew up, as the drama was shot in Cardiff and Bridgend.
The star of Beauty and the Beast, Immortals and The Hobbit had been used to being far from home while working on the stage and films.
Evans stars alongside Tom Cullen who plays Ben Fitzmaurice, a wealthy and charismatic politician
In The Party, Evans, 47, stars as Martin Gilmour, a journalist shaped by his lifelong friendship with a wealthy and charismatic politician played by Aberystwyth-born Tom Cullen.
Speaking on BBC's The One Show, he said that he had "shot in Wales" previously - when filming The Pembrokeshire Murders - but "never that close" to his family.
"Pembrokeshire is miles away from where my family are in the valleys," he said.
"They were only 25 minutes from me up the road [this time]."