Nuts and Bolts was a Welsh soap opera that launched the careers of some of Wales' most famous actors. The HTV show launched in 1999 and was set in the fictional valleys town of Ystrad (yes, a different one to the ones in Rhondda and Caerphilly!), with most of the show shot in Merthyr Tydfil.

The show ran for three years until it was cancelled in 2002 after ending up in a late-night slot on ITV2, losing many viewers in the process. Nuts and Bolts won The Royal Television Society Award for Best Regional Drama in 1999 but the show did receive some controversy throughout its time, with complaints about its content.

There are many familiar faces from Nuts and Bolts including Torchwood and Keeping Faith's Eve Myles, Constantine's Matt Ryan and Broadchurch's Matthew Gravelle. Here are what some of the stars are up to now.

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Eve Myles

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Eve Myles started off her career in the late 90s and appeared in an episode of Nuts and Bolts, as Carys Williams. During that time she also took on the main role of Ceri Owen in the BBC Wales drama Belonging. You can find out more about the Belonging cast here.

Eve is currently on our screens as Alice Sinclair in Hijack, an Apple Original TV thriller. Her most notable performance to date is starring in the Welsh drama series Keeping Faith which has been hailed as "a phenomenon" after reaching the major milestone of being streamed 50 million times.

The bilingual show - first featured on S4C - became the most popular show on BBC Wales in more than 25 years. She also dominated our screens during her time as Gwen Cooper in Torchwood and during her Broadchurch series.

Roger Evans

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Roger Evans grew up in Tonyrefail and starred as Lip Thomas in the Nuts and Bolts TV series. He then went on to feature in episodes of Doctors, Casualty, Midsomer Murders, New Tricks and more.

Most recently he appeared in one episode of Netflix's The Crown as an editor, as DCI Jim Morris in hit BBC drama The Pembrokeshire Murders and as Lord Borros Baratheon in House of the Dragon. A tutor at City Academy of performing arts, Roger has also acted on stage at The Globe and West End.

Matt Ryan

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Swansea's Matthew Evans, known as Matt Ryan, is known for playing the character John Constantine, from the DC Comics franchise. But, he first started his career as Gilly in Nuts and Bolts. He later went on to feature in films such as Layer Cake and popular TV series like Torchwood, Criminal Minds, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour and more, before landing the role of John Constantine in Constantine.

As part of the DC franchise, he went on to be featured in the TV series of Batwoman, The Flash, DC's Legends of Tomorrow and most recently the voice of John Constantine in Harley Quinn.

Jonny Owen

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Jonathan "Jonny" Owen played Richie Cartwright, who was mates with Lip Thomas - played by Roger Evans - in Nuts and Bolts. The pair have appeared on screen together since, most notably in the film Svengali, which was written by Jonny.

The Merthyr Tydfil star has since acted and produced a number of shows, appeared in Torchwood in 2006 and directed I Believe in Miracles, Don't Take Me Home, The Three Kings and TV series Together Stronger.

Jonny is also partner, with his other half Vicky McClure, in BYO Films, a production company that was behind recent ITV drama, Without Sin. The Talksport host and Sunday Times newspaper columnist is also proud dad of DJ Katie Owen who was Team Cymru ambassador in Qatar and also is model.

Matthew Gravelle

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Matthew Gravelle also made an appearance in TV series Nuts and Bolts as Will Learmanth. He then starred alongside fellow actor Eve Myles in Belonging, playing bad boy Andy Owen for two series. He was also the horrible boss Rob in Baker Boys, who was engaged to Eve Myles’ character, Sarah.

Matthew also featured in Y Gwyll/Hinterland and also starred opposite Matthew Rhys in the film Patagonia. However, in 2013 he became the most hated character on TV as he played killer Joe Miller in Broadchurch. Most recently he's featured in episodes of Silent Witness, The Pact and Itopia, while earlier this year he was part of the cast of The Steeltown Murders.

Jan Anderson

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Jan Anderson played a sassy Welsh police officer called Tess Conti in Nuts and Bolts. The actor first appeared on our screens as a teenager on BBC Wales drama Tiger Bay. She is mostly known for her role as Chloe Hill in BBC's Casualty from 1998 to 2002. She since has appeared in episodes of Torchwood, Doctors, Porridge and Emmerdale. Most recently she has featured in the film Hitmen, released in June 2023.