How Michael Sheen has gone from main man to ranting nationalist

The report low scores for Michael Sheen‘s drama The Way are unlikely to shock former followers who’ve watched his evolution from a multi-award-winning main man to an ‘unbearable bore’ behind a string of ‘cringeworthy’ Welsh nationalist rants.

His newest collection has turn into the BBC’s largest flop after getting the bottom viewers figures ever recorded for a prime-time drama finale, with simply 697,000 viewers tuning in for the ultimate episode. 

Directed by Sheen and filmed in his house city of Port Talbot, it tells the story of a brutal authorities crackdown in Wales with folks turning into refugees and being hounded by English fascist vigilantes waving the St George’s Cross. 

Summing up its message, The Mail’s TV critic Christopher Stevens wrote: ‘Nostalgia is the enemy. Well, nostalgia and likewise the English, capitalism, Mrs Thatcher, the police, the English, middle-class swingers, Freemasons, immigration officers and did I point out the English?’

Its failure could also be seen as symptomatic of Sheen’s profession extra broadly, with the 55-year-old alienating many along with his divisive tirades at everybody from the Prince of Wales and King Charles to English individuals who he blames for persuading the Welsh to again Brexit. 

After beginning his profession on stage, Sheen started his illustrious display profession within the 2000s and gained popularity of a collection of main roles together with taking part in Middlesbrough footballer and supervisor Brian Clough in The Damned United.

His BAFTA nominations embrace Best Supporting Actor in 2021 movie Quiz, the place he appeared as Chris Tarrant in a reenactment of the scandal of ‘Coughing Major’ Charles Ingram, whereas he gained a BAFTA and an Emmy for enjoying Tony Blair in three movies together with The Queen in 2006. 

The first signal of Sheen’s rising politicisation got here in 2017 when he returned his OBE after finishing up analysis on Wales’ relationship with England. 

The actor stated he made the controversial transfer to keep away from wanting like a hypocrite earlier than giving a lecture on the historical past of his native Wales – together with ‘previous wrongs’ dedicated by England ‘to fracture us, to manage us, to subdue us’.

Sheen obtained the honour from the Queen at Buckingham Palace in 2009, however stated it was incompatible along with his perception that Wales ought to turn into impartial from the UK.

Delivering the annual Raymond Williams lecture – named after a Marxist tutorial – Sheen stated Wales’ historical past is 1,500 years of outdoor interference.

‘It is the story of a nation that by no means was, struggling to be,’ he stated. ‘The story of a folks frequently shocked and formed and acted upon from exterior.  

‘From the Romans to the Anglo-Saxons to the Normans, all of them got here to fracture us, to manage us, to subdue us. To bend us to their will. They constructed their roads, they constructed their partitions, they constructed their castles.

‘They modified our language, they modified our religion, they modified our sense of ourselves. And all of the whereas, we tried to stay within the shadow of their powers.’ 

Sheen additionally claimed Wales had voted to depart the EU due to a slanted view fed to them from England. 

He additionally launched what has turn into one among his bugbears – the standing of the inheritor to the British throne as Prince of Wales – which he believes is a ‘signal of dominance over a defeated Welsh folks’.

In 2022, he took a collection of swipes at Prince William when he met the England soccer staff in Qatar, claiming this was ‘inappropriate’ given his title. 

William hit again subtly by insisting he’ll ‘assist each groups’, and obtained the backing of Welsh rugby legend Sir Gareth Edwards, who insisted the inheritor to the throne can assist each England and Wales in Qatar. 

Sheen additionally criticised King Charles III for visiting Cardiff in 2022 on the identical day as a medieval custom celebrating the final native Prince of Wales. 

The actor stated the King and Queen Consort’s journey on Owain Glyndŵr day may very well be seen as ‘insensitive to the purpose of insulting’. According to the Welsh actor, as a result of the journey fell on an necessary historic date, it may have been seen as ‘insensitive’ if the royals selected that date on objective.

Sheen’s interventions have generally provoked mockery, most notably final yr when he complained about foreigners taking part in Welsh folks, regardless of himself taking part in quite a lot of non-Welsh roles. 

The actor stated he discovered it ‘very laborious to just accept’ when this occurred, pointing one critic to ask ‘You’re telling me Brian Clough was Welsh’ – a reference to him taking part in Middlesbrough-born Brian Plough in The Damned United. 

Sheen’s different public interventions included that includes in a video about renaming the Brecon Beacons National Park to its Welsh counterpart Bannau Brycheiniog as a consequence of fears over the affiliation with a wood-burning, carbon-emitting blazing beacon.

In the quick promotional clip, he stated: ‘I’m delighted to see them going through their challenges head-on and welcome the reclamation of the outdated Welsh title, an outdated title for a brand new manner of being.’

The resolution was blasted as ‘baffling’ by Cardiff-born former BBC presenter John Humphrys, who added that many non-Welsh talking Welsh folks, not to mention outsiders, would battle to pronounce the brand new title. 

Sheen is a passionate supporter of the Wales soccer staff, and has delivered a collection of rousing speeches earlier than main tournaments, together with one on A League Of Their Own in 2022. 

Yet even these have divided opinion, with some – together with Welsh patriots – taking to social media to model them ‘cringeworthy’ and an ‘unbearable bore’. 

Sheen is at present in a relationship with Swedish actress Anna Lundberg, having break up with US comic Sarah Silverman in 2017 as an oblique consequence of Brexit and Donald Trump’s presidency. 

The Welshman stated they break up due to lengthy distance – as he went again to the UK to discover why Brits voted in favour of Brexit, whereas Silverman selected to tour the US to interview folks within the wake of Trump turning into president. 

Sheen stated that he and Silverman felt in ‘other ways’ that they wished to ‘get extra concerned’ within the political local weather after Brexit and Trump’s election.   

The actor was commissioned to direct The Way by BBC Wales and it was launched in February. 

It depicts a crackdown on protests over job cuts on the Port Talbot steelworks, which results in demonstrations within the city and a subsequent English backlash. 

Sheen, who nonetheless lives near Port Talbot, admitted that the present may very well be seen as political and that he had feared it might be pulled by BBC bosses.

The Way launched with only one.7million viewers which is under the common for a major time slot.

But the company claimed that viewers behaviour had modified and many individuals would have watched the collection on iPlayer moderately than at 9pm.

A spokesman for the broadcaster stated: ‘The Way has been obtainable to view in full on BBC iPlayer for greater than a fortnight.

‘Overnight scores not present a full image of all of those that have watched in an on-demand world.’

Other dramas obtainable as on-demand field units have outperformed The Way corresponding to ITV’s Mr Bates vs the Post Office, which had a launch viewers of three.9million in January and added tens of millions extra through catch-up.

In his zero-star overview, the Mail’s TV critic Christopher Stevens, wrote: ‘Actor and director Michael Sheen’s spittle-flecked revolutionary rant The Way (BBC1) started with incoherent fury and have become ever extra deranged.

‘These three hours spent denouncing England’s oppression of the Welsh ultimately blundered to a detailed in a multitude of disconnected scenes.

‘Sheen’s clout as a revered actor is the one motive this drivel was filmed.’