Men Up: The BBC's new drama about the first viagra trials in Wales

If you saw the documentary Keeping It Up: The Story of Viagra when it aired on BBC2 earlier this month, then you’ll know that the world’s first medical trials for the drug took place in Wales.

That’s also the inspiration for a feature-length new drama, which follows the experience of five (fictional) patients who take part, exploring how the controversial pill changes their lives in ways they weren’t expecting.

Widower Colin (Steffan Rhodri) is nervous about embarking on a new romance, while Peetham ‘Pete’ Shah (Phaldut Sharma) fears he and his wife have lost their spark. Eddie (Mark Lewis Jones) is also keen to please his wife, and Tommy (Paul Rhys) is a gay man who has lied about his sexuality to take part in the trail. He’s encouraged by his friend, clinical nurse Moira Davies (Joanna Page), but can he keep up the pretence?

Meanwhile, Meurig (Iwan Rheon) deeply loves his wife Ffion (Alex Roach) but has been struggling to be intimate with her following a diabetes diagnosis. He’ll do seemingly anything to get their relationship back on track – except talk to her…

As Iwan point out, that’s a key theme in the drama. “A lot of the characters are at some form of a boiling point and their impotence is causing them mental harm. We find Meurig at a desperate point and a lot of this is about masculinity and the inability to talk about problems. As men, we are getting better at it, but in the 90s, it was very much not a thing to talk about.”

And while the drama may be set nearly 30 years ago, it’s a theme that Iwan believes is still important. He says: “Most people will know that through lack of communication and expressing your emotions, people drift apart, and you can become lonely and it’s a really dangerous thing. Suicide is one of the main killers of men, and it’s something that we need to address as men.”

He adds: “I believe Welsh men, in particular, are bad at expressing their feelings as I know quite well being one myself! It’s something I certainly work on, and I think it’s really important. We need to try to just get over the fact that we’re worried that someone’s going to laugh at you for something and you need to deal with these things.”

It’s something that Aneurin Barnard, who plays Dr Dylan Pearce, agrees with, saying: “In this story, we really opened the door to see what it’s like for men who are struggling with being honest about what’s going on behind closed doors.

“It’s so important, especially now, in this day and age to educate young men in particular, boys even, that it’s okay to cry. It’s okay to feel, it’s okay to be shy, it’s okay to be angry. We must make sure that we look after them in the process of learning that and it’s extremely vital for men to be honest about their feelings.”