Beyond the Hub Svengali Review by DJ Forrest

Written by Jonny Owen

Directed by John Hardwick

Broadcast 21^st March 2014

Dixie was a postie from a quiet Welsh mining town where the local taxi was a man with a pony.  He had dreams of being a manager of a successful band, and after discovering the band on Youtube he secured the position of their manager.  He and his girlfriend (Vicky McClure), with money and good wishes from his parents (Brian Hibbard and Sharon Morgan) set off for London, to make their fortune. 

Life in London was not all paved in gold, and while Dixie tried to get people interested in the band, his girlfriend took work where she could to raise the rent and pay the bills as well as afford to eat.  The tin of money was to be their start towards their wedding and new life together; they were not to touch that until it was needed. 

Securing a record contract seemed the hardest possible thing in the world, and although Dixie had a Welsh friend who was now in the record business, he was not willing to give Dixie the break he needed.  Finding work and borrowing from a loan shark seemed the only way to meet the demands of an up and coming band. 

Jonny Owen’s portrayal of Dixie is brilliant.  Dixie really wants that record contract, he wants to play the manager of a big band, but in amongst all of these dreams is his girlfriend, who after following Dixie to London, has had to secure work in order to keep them both, has had to endure the band dossing in their flat, eating their food, not helping pay the rent, then discovers that their tin of dreams is empty.  You do wonder if they will ever patch things up or if Dixie will follow his dreams and become the manager he really wants to be...

The film doesn’t disappoint, it has humour, comedy, snappy wit and the music is fantastic.  The scenery, both in London and in Wales, it’s a pleasure to watch and also sharing a few surprises along the way.  It was definitely spot how many names you could identify in the film, from Torchwood to Sherlock to the Flying Pickets with names even from the music industry.  If you want a great British movie to watch then this is the film for you.  And Jonny Owen nails it with Svengali.  It’s worth every penny!

5/5

Articles Jonathan Owen

“Is it ‘coz I’m Welsh?” 

(Svengali) 

Jonathan Owen first came to our attention, (those that move in Torchwood circles) as Banana Boat in ‘Something Borrowed’ (2007) Series Two.  He played Rhys’ best man.  He came as one part of a double act, the other being Mervyn. Sadly Mervyn was dinner for the nostrovite, while Banana Boat was spun in a sticky black web with Toshiko Sato as a snack for later – thankfully he was saved from that by the Torchwood team. 

Jonathan Owen has appeared in a number of programmes and films which feature some of Wales’ finest actors and actresses especially Eve Myles. 

In ‘A Bit of Tom Jones?’ (2009) written, produced and directed by Peter Watkins-Hughes and shot entirely on location in Tredegar and filmed in the summer of 2007, Henry Fielding – Jonny, is approached by a mysterious woman in a late night bar who offers to sell him the severed ‘manhood’ of Wales’ greatest vocal entertainer.  Believing he can make a killing selling the infamous appendage onto obsessive fans, Henry stumps up the cash. Eve Myles stars as Sally Fielding. It’s a comedy and worth a view, and came out on DVD in April 2010.  It won the Best Film award at the BAFTA Cymru event in Cardiff in May 2010.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm10GQXjI1Y   ( A bit of Tom Jones)

In ‘Good Arrows’ (2009) Jonny plays Andy ‘The Arrows’ Samson, a dart player who slides into depression after a heart attack and loses his skill with the darts. It’s a comedy written by Dean Cavanagh and Irvine Welsh, and filmed in Merthyr Tydfil.

Along with acting, Jonny is a writer and producer for ITV Wales, including winning the ‘Gwyn Alf Williams Award, at the Welsh BAFTA’s for the 40^th anniversary documentary of the Aberfan disaster. 

Born 4 July 1971 in Merthyr Tydfil, Jonny’s interests lay in music.  In his late teens he was in the indie band The Pocket Devils as bass player and lead singer/songwriter.  They were signed to Sanctuary Records in the UK and Pop Music Records in the US, but finally split when Jonny landed the part of Richey in Nuts and Bolts (1999), a Welsh drama series.

http://www.pocketdevils.blogspot.co.uk/ You can also find the band on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/thepocketdevils and follow them on Twitter @pocketdevils 

Jonny’s career as an actor spans from 1999 through to present, and with an internet drama Svengali now set as a feature film, it seems there’s no end to this man’s talent as an actor, writer and producer. 

In Svengali Jonny plays Dixie, a postman from South Wales who is a music fanatic. After trawling through YouTube he discovers a great band and after hunting them down offers them his management services...  The idea of the story is based upon Jonny’s own experiences in the music industry and features well known bands playing themselves, along with Martin Freeman (Sherlock, The Hobbit, The World’s End), Vicky McClure (Hummingbird, This is England, Broadchurch), and Michael Smiley (Luther, Utopia, Ripper Street) heading up the cast.

To find out more about Svengali, visit the website: http://svengalimovie.com/

Facebook Page:

 https://www.facebook.com/svengalipage

To find out more about Jonny Owen and his impressive career to date go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonny_Owen

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1528271/

Research source came from:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm10GQXjI1Y  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25csI_ZXtGY

http://svengalimovie.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonny_Owen

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1528271/