Bridget Jones: BBC Wales journalist Dan Heard stars in new film
2025-02-15
Category: entertainment

A Welsh journalist has traded the BBC Wales studio for a blockbuster film set as he pops up in one of the most highly anticipated films of the year.Dan Heard said being in Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy was a "surreal" experience and top secret - even from his own mum.It is the fourth instalment in the franchise - with a star-studded cast featuring Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth and Leo Woodall - and fans have been waiting nearly decade since the third film came out in 2016.Dan, who is originally from Llandrindod Wells, Powys, lives in Cardiff and has worked as a broadcast journalist, including for Radio Wales and Wales Today - but this was his first acting endeavour.
The 28-year-old explained he got the gig after he was recommended by a university friend who works for a casting agency."They were looking to have real journalists play a part in the film, and I was one of the four selected," he said."She recommended me and then I had to send in a little show reel type thing and I sent in some of the bulletins I had done for Wales Today."Dan said he spent a Sunday filming in London in June 2024, first going through the makeup process and meeting the other journalists, before travelling to The Royal Courts of Justice to shoot his scene.
"It's part of a little montage of journalists reporting on a story, about halfway through the film," he said.The film's main line-up were not there but, as the four journalists did a few takes, each saying their lines, filming with Renée Zellweger was simultaneously in full flow across London.Dan added it felt "surprisingly normal" to shoot his scene, almost a recreation of his day job."I was just doing what I was kind of used to doing," he said."I was stood in the suit I wear for Wales Today, with an earpiece in, pretending to be fed lines," he said."It was like doing a piece to camera."Dan continued: "I'm in it for about two minutes - a real kind of blink and you miss me."
But, despite his brief cameo, he has been inundated with messages from friends, family and colleagues on the first day of the film's release.Having signed a non-disclosure agreement, Dan successfully managed to keep his role a secret before the film launched  - including from his own parents."My mum is going to see it tonight, with my dad at our local cinema - it will be a bit of a shock for her," he said.He and his partner travelled to London a fortnight ago for a special screening at the Odeon cinema in Leicester Square, but the main cast were not present, instead attending the official film premiere."We were at the cinema you see in the background in the first episode of Gavin and Stacey," Dan said."It's a bit surreal to be honest."