Jones has said that more money should be invested in Welsh drama - and that he would like to get back to writing scripts himself. He has also poured scorn on the current crop of "reality TV" shows.

"I think 'Big Brother' and 'Survivor' are just cheap television and I really wish someone would start writing dramas and proper scripts for television again," he told the Western Mail. "It's not a good way to entertain the nation - it's basically taking all the books away from kids. I started off doing scripts and I would like to have a go again."

He added: "Wales has the artists, talent, people and the initiative to achieve a lot more than they are showing the rest of Britain really."

As previously revealed on NME.COM, Jones has been developing a script for some time. His screenplay is set in the '40s and based on the life of Albert Pierrepoint, one of Britain's last hangmen, who worked before the abolition of capital punishment in 1965.

"He's very much an ordinary guy. He could be an ice cream man or a bloke pulling pints behind the bar. But when he gets the call, he's suddenly got to go away and kill someone. He does it - almost without thinking - and returns home again," Jones said over a year ago when he first soliciting interest in his script. Billy Connolly and 'Notting Hill' actor Rhys Ifans were said to have expressed an interest in taking part.

In related news, Stereophonics' drummer Stuart Cable's mother has entered the debate about just why he pulled recent dates in Japan. Cable refused to travel east with the rest of the band last week, blaming "family reasons." However his mother Mable has said: "Everything is fine. There are no family problems. Maybe Stuart just doesn't like Japan."

Cable was replaced for the dates, which finished in Tokyo on Friday (January 18), by Owen Hopkin of The Crocketts. He flew out to rejoin the band for their US dates, which kicked off with an instore in Los Angeles Virgin Megastore last night (January 20).

(from http://nme.com)

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