Elen Rhys has admitted she has given up on dating apps in her personal life, just as her crime drama Cleddau returns to screens with a storyline centred on online dating.
The Welsh actress, who plays detective DI Ffion Lloyd in the hit S4C series, made the frank confession when asked whether she had ever had a bad experience on a dating app.
“Oh, God, haven’t we all?” she said, before adding: “I’ve given up on dating apps in my personal life.”
A detective navigating modern dating
Her character takes a different approach. When the new series begins, Ffion has started using a dating app as she tries to move forward with her personal life — only for it to become linked to a disturbing murder investigation.
When a woman's body is discovered in the River Cleddau, Ffion and her colleagues begin to suspect that a killer could be using the dating platform to find and target victims.
Elen said there was something particularly interesting about having Ffion's dating life running alongside the investigation. “But what was really nice playing was… she is dating online. That runs parallel to this investigation,” she explained.
Life away from the cameras
While Elen has become a familiar face on Welsh television, she has generally kept much of her personal life away from the spotlight. The actress is a mum and has previously spoken about the realities of balancing family life with her career in the entertainment industry.
Her career has seen her take on a string of high-profile television roles, including appearances in Keeping Faith, The Mallorca Files, Broadchurch and Silent Witness. She has also worked in film, building a career that has seen her move between Welsh-language productions and major English-language television projects.
Award-winning drama returns
Her role as Ffion has proved particularly successful. The first series of Cleddau became a major hit for S4C, attracting record numbers of iPlayer sessions for an S4C drama series.
The drama also picked up the Best Drama prize at the RTS Cymru Wales Awards, while Elen received a BAFTA Cymru nomination for Best Actress for her performance as Ffion. Cleddau returns to S4C and BBC iPlayer on October 11.
