Image credit – Thomas Butler
The opening of the Cardiff Broadcast Centre is the latest success in the continued growth of Whisper Cymru. Led by Carys Owens, the Welsh arm of Whisper has recently grown to more than 25 team members.
The woman behind the lens
Carys began her career working in post-production, delivering quick turnaround edits for big sporting events. She went on to establish a Welsh-based production company called Lens360, working with clients including Oasis and Welsh Rugby Union. In January 2021, the company joined forces with long-term partner Whisper and Carys began a new journey heading up Whisper Cymru.
She now leads a team of 25-plus employees, delivering ground-breaking documentaries, including the International Emmy-nominated documentary Two Sides, and Return to Rockfield with Oasis. The team also delivers broadcast coverage for the Women’s Six Nations (BBC), the Rugby World Cup (S4C), the British & Irish Lions, and more.

Image credit – Whisper Cymru
Spotlight on sport
Based in Cardiff, Whisper Cymru was awarded Cardiff Business of the Year at the 2022 Cardiff Business Awards. The company works with the British and Irish Lions, the WRU, WRU Partners, the BBC, Channel 4 and S4C. It delivers the Indigo Prem every week, and its slate also includes a 2024 six-part series for S4C called Street to Scrum, which follows the creation of a brand-new rugby team made up of members of the public who had previously lacked opportunities.
Whisper Cymru works hard to give back to the industry. As well as sponsoring events such as Disabled Young Leaders in Sport, it also offers a number of training schemes to encourage new talent to join the industry. This includes four 12-month paid internship positions, as well as an annual Creative Bootcamp run in partnership with Team Boundless and Tramshed Tech.
Whisper Cymru also hosted a recent Whisper Get Involved event, aimed at meeting new disabled talent ahead of the upcoming Paralympics.

Image credit – Whisper Cymru
Award-winning production
In addition to sport, Whisper Cymru has a flourishing documentary slate. Its portfolio includes Two Sides, which followed both Rugby Teams during the latest British and Irish Lions Tour of South Africa. The documentary was co-produced with T&W and received critical acclaim, being nominated for an International Emmy in 2023.
The team recently won Best Sports Documentary at the 2024 RTS Cymru Awards for its film on Ifan Philips, who suffered a life-changing injury which ended his promising international rugby career.
Whisper Cymru also co-produced ICONS: Noel Gallagher which won Best Documentary in the 2024 Telly Awards.
The team’s most recent documentary is Ken Owens: Y Sheriff, which was made for S4C. The film followed the life of the former British and Irish Lions star and Wales rugby captain Ken over 18 months, including career highs, career lows, and Ken’s ultimate retirement announcement.

Image credit – Whisper Cymru
Paralympic programming
In a triumph for Whisper, the award-winning independent production company has once again been chosen to spearhead Channel 4’s coverage of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. This prestigious contract was secured following a highly competitive tender process, wherein Whisper showcased its innovative and creative vision to continue to elevate Channel 4’s already renowned Paralympics coverage, which has garnered global acclaim. Whisper previously worked with Channel 4 to deliver the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, and this latest endeavour is set to further cement the company’s status as a leading force in the UK production landscape.
Pete Andrews, Head of Sport, Channel 4, expressed his enthusiasm: ‘Channel 4’s ground-breaking coverage of the Paralympics has received worldwide recognition and we’re committed to further pushing the boundaries in terms of how we deliver Paralympic sport to our audiences.
‘Whisper demonstrated that they were aligned with Channel 4’s aspirations for the Paralympics and we’re really looking forward to working with them to shape how our coverage of the Games continues to set the global standard.’
Speaking about the achievement, and the wider context of Whisper’s work, Carys says, ‘With Whisper Cymru and our Cardiff base, we have built an industry-leading accessible remote production facility – Cymru Broadcast Centre. We are super proud of the legacy the Paralympics production for Channel 4 will leave here in Wales. Making reasonable adjustments for anybody with a disability within workplaces is always expected, but we have worked hard to build an industry-leading accessible working environment for live production.’
‘This is most definitely the proudest project I have ever worked on – to see the belief and determination the team has shown to make this happen and to be able to work on one of the world’s biggest sporting events is a dream come true,’ she adds. ‘Having our own remote production hub in Cardiff is a game changer for the entire industry in Wales. We hope that the training opportunities will ignite the imagination of young people to consider sport and live production as a feasible profession. We also hope to see the economic impact on the region as we encourage more production companies to consider Cardiff as an industry-leading base to do business.’

Image credit – Whisper Cymru