A ROW over the University of South Wales filming a patriotic advert in England continued this week as Plaid Cymru AM Lindsay Whittle criticised comments by the university’s vice- chancellor.

Mr Whittle, AM for South Wales East, wrote twice to Professor Julie Lydon about the advert, starring Hollywood star Ioan Gruffudd.

Mr Gruffudd was quoted as saying: “As a proud Welshman I am delighted to help the University of South Wales promote attendance. And to come and do that in Wales – well, what could be better?”

However, when the advert was filmed in September it was shot in the Mendips rather than the Brecon Beacons.

Mr Whittle said: “The university may never have claimed the generic background represented Wales but I certainly don’t think it is immaterial where it was filmed.

“I think anyone watching an advertisement about the University of South Wales would naturally assume it was filmed in the country where the university was based, particularly following Ioan Gruffudd’s comments. I wonder whether Bristol or Bath universities would film a promotion movie in Wales – I very much doubt it.

“I’ve also heard nothing in correspondence from the university to suggest that the weather was ever a major factor. It seems to me that Somerset was an easy location for a West Country PR agency to film.”

A university spokesman originally said: “It’s simply a question of meteorology rather than patriotism. The forecast was for torrential rain in Wales on the day we had him, so we made the decision to film where we knew the weather was predicted to be better.”

In a letter to Mr Whittle Professor Lydon acknowledged there were other factors, saying: “We also had to take account of Ioan Gruffudd’s availability as we had only a very short time with him before he had to return to Los Angeles. We took account of all of the available information and made a pragmatic judgement call on the location ahead of the actual shoot."

“Neither the advert itself nor the university has ever claimed that the generic backdrop represented Wales nor was it intended to – the message of self-empowerment is universal.”

A spokeswoman for the University said: “[The advert] has been enormously successful with over 1.4m viewings in cinemas and online. We’d encourage people to watch the video and judge for themselves.