First Minister visits Netflix’s Sex Education studio to meet Welsh Government backed apprentices

Sex Education is a comedy-drama series that follows the lives of the students, staff and parents of the fictional Moordale Secondary School.

The Welsh Government has financially supported two of the last three series of the popular drama, through Creative Wales. All three previous series were provided with logistical support through the Wales Screen service.

Since Creative Wales was established in January 2020, £12.8m of production funding has been successfully awarded to 19 projects generating over £139m of production spend into the Welsh Economy.

The show has had a significant positive impact on the Welsh economy and is providing valuable training opportunities for the next generation of talent, with trainees employed on each series. This season will offer a further 11 trainee placements, and across all four seasons, over 60 trainee roles have been created. In addition some trainees from earlier series have also returned as full-time crew in subsequent series, helping to further develop the crew base in Wales. 

As part of its investment in television and film production the Welsh Government stipulates that all supported productions must commit to providing paid trainee placements for Wales based trainees.  The Young Person’s Guarantee provides everyone under 25 in Wales with support to gain a place in education or training, or support to get into work or self-employment.

The Welsh Government is asking businesses across Wales to commit to the Young Person’s Guarantee by offering opportunities through work experience placements, work tasters, apprenticeships, or employment.

Speaking during his visit to the Sex Education set, First Minister Mark Drakeford said: 

“I am pleased we have been able to back Sex Education, one of the biggest success stories for the industry in Wales and one of Netflix’s biggest hits globally.

“The opportunities provided by the production, shows the range of schemes and programmes available through the Young Person’s Guarantee.

“Young people hold the key to Wales’ future success and there will be no lost generation here as a result of the pandemic”.

One of the apprentices, Charles Strider from the CRIW Shared Apprenticeship Scheme said: 

“This is an opportunity not only to learn on a production but will also open the door for me to develop my career over the years to come. 

“I want to stay in Wales and continue being a part of this growing industry that I’m so excited to be involved in”. 

Jamie Campbell, Creative Director at Eleven and Executive Producer of Sex Education said: 

“We are delighted that Sex Education is returning to Wales this year for its much-anticipated fourth series. The country is home to some of the world’s most breath-taking landscapes, which create a memorable and unique TV experience for viewers.

“Through the filming of Sex Education, we’ll work alongside Netflix and the Welsh Government to support young creatives through apprenticeships and training. In turn, we hope to drive growth across Wales’ creative industries and promote the country as a filming destination of choice.”